Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, MD, FAAP, FAIM

Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara is a double-board certified physician scientist activist and Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Wayne Health. Her mission in life is to dismantle white supremacist delusion by eliminating antiBlack racism in medicine, healthcare, and public health while centering and celebrating Black brilliance, abundance, and joy. She is an NIH-funded health equity implementation researcher and the founding director of the “Health Equity and Justice in Medicine” (HEJiM) initiative, co-founding director of Wayne State University Global Health Alliance, and co-created the Global Urban Health & Equity curriculum. She is an internationally renowned award winning educator, scholar, and thought leader in antiracism and antioppression, decolonization, and Black liberation and focuses on the joy, abundance, and brilliance of Blackness. She is a member of the White House Office of Public Engagement Healthcare Leaders in Minority Health where she advises on antiracism, health justice, and health equity, Racism and Health section editor for Global Public Health PLOS One journal, and member of the National Health Equity Collective. She is a leader in the Michigan State Medical Society Taskforce on Health Equity, the Governor’s Roundtable on Reproductive Justice, the state of Michigan Pharmacy & Therapeutics committee, and a community health influencer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. As CEO and founder of OparaSpeaks, she inspires and equips individuals and organizations with the tools to transform their systems into antiracist, just, equitable, and nurturing environments where Black brilliance thrives. She founded and directs the Opara Equity, Justice, & Joy lab and mentors hundreds of trainees, youth, and community members in community-based and -led implementation action research. She is also co-chair of the Detroit End Race Based Medicine Taskforce, Canada-US coalition to End Race Correction in Healthcare, and The North American Conference to End Race Based Medicine. She is a renowned speaker, consultant, coach, & facilitator and hosts an online think tank: Antiracism in Action Roundtable #AIART, a interdisciplinary community of Black leadership to eliminate antiBlackness from medicine & healthcare, and public health.