EmpowerHer: Women’s Health Initiative

Dr. Melissa L. Gilliam became Boston University’s eleventh president on July 1, 2024. Dr. Gilliam is an esteemed and award-winning interdisciplinary researcher in medicine, public health, and the humanities. Dr. Gilliam joined Boston University from The Ohio State University, where she held the Engie-Axium chair and served as executive vice president and provost overseeing 15 colleges and six campuses and the Office of Academic Affairs, including undergraduate education, graduate education, international affairs, diversity and inclusion, external engagement, online learning, and information technology. She placed a keen focus on issues of access, affordability, and reducing student debt. Prior to joining Ohio State, Dr. Gilliam spent the majority of her career at the University of Chicago, where she was the Ellen H. Block Distinguished Service Professor of Health Justice, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics, and vice provost. In the latter role, her portfolio consisted of faculty hiring, faculty development, chair development, and diversity and inclusion. In these roles, she oversaw the Neubauer Family Assistant Professors Program, the Provost Postdoctoral Scholars Program, and faculty awards and recognition. Dr. Gilliam’s scholarship focuses on developing biomedical and innovative interventions to promote adolescent health and well-being. Her research funders have included the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Irving Harris Foundation, and others. Dr. Gilliam is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Gynecological Club, and the American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society. She serves on the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratories and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Among her many awards and honors, she received the King Arts Center Legacy Award in 2022, was named a Centennial Scholar of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, and received the Chicago Urban League Innovator Award, the US Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee Service Award, and the Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award. She has published over 100 articles in her field. A native of Washington, D.C., she is the daughter of the late, world-renowned, abstract painter Sam Gilliam and the pioneering journalist at the Washington Post Dorothy Butler Gilliam, the first Black female reporter hired at the paper. Dr. Gilliam earned her Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Yale University, a Master of Arts in philosophy and politics from the University of Oxford, a Doctor of Medicine from Harvard University, and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois Chicago. She completed an internship in general surgery at the University of Chicago and her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University. 

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Speaker for the Opening Fireside Chat Trailblazers in Health: Wisdom from Black Women Leaders

Byllye Y. Avery, founder of the Black Women's Health Imperative, has been a health care activist for 50 years. She is a co-founder of Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need and featured in the PBS’s Makers: Women Who Make America. In the 70’s Avery co-founded two centers in Florida, Gainesville Women's Health Center, and Birthplace.   

Avery has been the recipient of many awards including: The MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant”, Essence Award, Academy of Science Institute of Medicine's Gustav O. Lienhardt Award,  Dorothy I. Height Lifetime Achievement Award, President's Citation  American Public Health Association and UF’s School of Medicine Leadership Award. The Chicago Foundation for Women Ruth Bader Ginsberg Impact Award, MA NARAL Champion for Choice, University of Iowa’s School of Public Health Hansen Award.   

Avery served on the Charter Advisory Committee for the Office of Research on Women's Health of the National Institutes of Health, and a visiting fellow at Harvard School of Public Health.   

She has received honorary degrees from Thomas Jefferson University, State University of New York at Binghamton, Gettysburg College, Bowdoin College, Bates College, Russell Sage College, Simmons University, City College of New York, and UCSF Medal Award.  

Byllye is currently writing her memoir. She and her wife Ngina Lythcott live in Provincetown.   

Dr. Brittne Halford MD, MPH is an Internal Medicine Physician. Originally from Flint, Michigan, she attended the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) for college. She completed medical school and a Master of Public Health at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.  Currently, Dr. Halford is a dedicated hospitalist in Boston.  Besides her medical pursuits, Dr. Halford is a passionate money coach, empowering early-career women in healthcare to achieve more JOY through personalized money management strategies. She shares her experiences on her YouTube channel and as a co-host of the Wealth Minded MD podcast, including paying off $138,000 in student loans within 3 years while balancing travel, investments, and motherhood. She is also a dedicated wife and mother.  

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Dr. Liza Swedarsky is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Health Vows. She is a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist and is fellowship trained through the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL) specializing in outpatient gynecology, minimally invasive surgery and chronic pelvic pain.   She has over 26 years of clinical experience consciously facilitating healing and safe spaces for women.  She serves as a faculty member in the Division of Urban Health at Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner Hospitals and is also a clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School.  She has dedicated her career to serving in Boston’s neighborhoods and community health centers since 2006 to guarantee access to convenient, advanced gynecologic care, outpatient procedures, and the full spectrum of surgical services including laparoscopic and robotic surgery.   

Dr. Liza feels the service aspect of clinical care, “doctoring,” and patient interactions are key and foundational.  She recognizes true transformation, self-care, and change begins in the mind.  She teaches women to take charge of their unique journey in achieving optimal health and longevity and offers supportive spaces in her carefully crafted workshop series.  She pioneers programming to eliminate health disparities and inequities recognizing women need mindfulness techniques, self-empowerment and self-advocacy strategies, and health education so they can better navigate complex health care systems and interactions with their doctors. She created and facilitates the Health Vows Program to Promote Health Equity and Conscious Living by targeting individual behavioral changes.  The workshop series runs for seven consecutive weeks and empowers women to honor seven Health Vows.  Her vision has been supported by the Mass League of Community Health Center’s Special Projects Grant and she was awarded a Brigham Care Redesign Incubator and Startup Program (BCRISP) award in support of the Health Vows Program. 

Dr. Liza also serves as the Physical and Mental Health Co-Chair of the Boston Alumnae Chapter (BAC) of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. and is the content creator and facilitator of the Women’s Health Early Detection Series in the areas of Breast Health and Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention.  The Physical and Mental Health Committee aims to educate and empower African American and BIPOC women living in Boston to increase awareness of disease burden, prevention strategies, and heighten health literacy.  As a result of the committee’s impactful programming, Boston Alumnae Chapter received a 2024-2025 Community Empowerment Grant from the Delta Research and Educational Foundation.   

When enjoying personal time Liza loves to study metaphysics and is an avid reader.  She engages in a daily meditation practice and yoga.  She believes in exercise as form of self-care.  She is an explorer and loves to travel.    She prefers a wardrobe filled with color and cannot resist boots and jackets.  Food, film, dance, art, and live music are among her first loves.  However, she is most in love with her two teenage children.   

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Nieisha Deed is a powerful emerging voice and leader in the mental health and wellness space in Boston and is working fiercely to advocate for mental wellness in Boston’s Black community. She is the visionary and creator behind PureSpark. As a person living with bipolar disorder, Nieisha understands all too well how important access to holistic support services and community are to one’s mental wellness. As a Black woman, Nieisha is a community builder and disruptor in the mental health and wellness space. She is dismantling the walls of silence by raising awareness about mental illness and wellness, not just through PureSpark, but with speaking engagements and facilitated events, where she shares her personal story as a Black woman living with a mental Illness. Because the Black community has historically been left out of the conversations about mental health and wellness, Nieisha feels that it’s vital to share her personal experience and voice with her community. Through her leadership, Nieisha shatters the shame around mental illnesses, creates access to mental health support, and shows us that healing is possible. 

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Born and raised in Southern California, Dr. LaShyra “Lash” Nolen is a writer, healer, and physician activist. She is a primary care internal resident physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where her work centers increasing access to medical care for marginalized populations, antiracism in medical education, and the creation of reparatory public policy frameworks. A leading voice for health equity, her work has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine and Teen Vogue, among others. Dr. Nolen is the founding executive director of We Got Us, a youth and student-led grassroots community empowerment project with the mission to increase access to education and healing for marginalized communities. She has served as a member of the White House Health Equity Roundtable and is an advising editor for Harvard’s Perspectives in Primary Care medical journal.  

Dr. Nolen attended Loyola Marymount University with a B.S. in Health and Human Science. After graduation, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and served as an AmeriCorps member. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School where she became the first Black woman elected as student council president. She also obtained her masters in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she was a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Harvard Presidential Public Service Fellow. 

Her work has earned her the honor of being named a Forbes “30 Under 30” Leader in Healthcare, a 2024 U.S. Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health awardee, the 2020 National Minority Quality Forum’s youngest “40 under 40 Leader in Minority Health”, among other honors. 

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Writer, Poet

Amaka Ubaka is an Emmy award-winning journalist. She anchors 7NEWS Today in New England and 7NEWS at Noon. She joined 7NEWS as a reporter in May 2016. 

Amaka is Nigerian-American and her name means “beautiful” in one of the many languages spoken in Africa’s most populous country. She was named one of Boston Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2022 and received an honorary doctorate degree from Regis College in 2023.  

Before arriving in Boston, Amaka was a reporter in Orlando, Florida where she covered many stories that received national attention. She also worked as a reporter in Omaha, Nebraska and landed her first on-air job in Redding, California. 

Amaka loves meeting new people, learning their stories and being involved in the community. She enjoys using social media in a creative way to inform viewers while also showcasing her personality in an engaging way. She spends much of her free time as an emcee for charity events including Project Hope, YWCA Cambridge, International Institute of New England, West End House, The One Mission Buzz Off, Rosie’s Place, BMA TenPoint and the Igbo Organization of New England. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists. 

A Florida native, Amaka has fully embraced living in New England! When she’s not on the anchor desk, you’ll find her in the gym, hiking, watching sporting events or traveling. 

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Miami. 

Nicole Obi is the President & CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA) whose mission is to drive economic equity and prosperity for Massachusetts to achieve inclusive growth through advocacy, programming, and strategic partnerships that enable Black-owned businesses and Black communities to thrive. She joined BECMA in 2020 as the Vice President of Member Experience & Engagement. She previously spent 12 years at Fidelity Investments, parting ways with the firm as Vice President of Customer Strategy & Engagement in 2018. She was also CEO of her own strategic consulting firm, Enterprise Advisors, after co-founding two venture-backed startup firms. She earned two master’s degrees from MIT’s Sloan School of Management and the Department of Urban Studies Planning. Ms. Obi currently serves on several boards and committees, including the The Alliance for Climate Transition (formerly NECEC), the Environment League of Massachusetts, the MassHire State Workforce Development Board, the Intensive Community Program of the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, Browning the Green Space, the Women’s Foundation of Boston, the Governor's Advisory Council on Black Empowerment, the Boston Local Development Corporation (BLDC), as well as Longfellow Investment Management’s Board of Advisors. Ms. Obi was recently appointed to the New England Aquarium Board of Trustees and as the Chair of Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office’s Diverse and Small Business Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Boston Chapter of the Links, Inc 

Michele Courton Brown is the chief talent equity officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She is responsible for the organization’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategies and initiatives as well as for developing sustainable and innovative career pathways for its 4,200 associates.  Previously, she served vice president of business development and managing director of Zaffre Investments at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  Michele was the chief executive officer of Quality Interactions, which provides cultural competency training for the healthcare industry. Michele served as founding president of the FleetBoston Financial Foundation, which contributed over $25 million annually to charitable endeavors. Michele graduated from Boston University and completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Michele is the first woman chair of YouthBuild Global, a Trustee and Chair of the Board of Advisors at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and Vice Chair of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.   She is the chair emeritus of Health Resources in Action. 

Petrina Martin Cherry is the Vice President of Community Engagement & External Affairs at Boston Medical Center Health System, where she leads community program development, particularly around the hospital’s efforts to increase health care equity, economic mobility, workforce development in the life sciences, diversity and inclusion and address social determinants of health. She has done significant advocacy work creating community-based programs to bring awareness to Sickle Cell Disease, BMC’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, promote mental health and wellness in communities, to reduce recidivism and influence successful reentry and to build equity instead of charity in previously red-lined communities.  

Petrina’s work has successfully elevated the health equity work of BMC with our State and local government officials, corporate partners, and community leaders. She was appointed by Mayor Walsh in 2020 to the City of Boston’s COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force and was appointed to Governor Maura Healey’s Council on Black Empowerment. Most recently, Petrina was appointed to the Mass Cultural Governing Council and The Boston Foundation’s (TBF) Board of Directors. Petrina serves as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Forum for the National Association of Healthcare Executives (NAHSE) and sits on the board of trustees for The Urban League of Eastern MA (Emeritus), The Boys and Girls Club of Boston, the Boston Arts Academy (BAA), ArtsEmerson at Emerson College, and the Advisory Board of the American Hospital Association. She earned a B.A. from the University of South Carolina and an M.B.A. from Georgia State, J. Mack Robinson School of Business.