The Social Mission Alliance’s Health Justice Fellowship Program seeks to create a dynamic community dedicated to nurturing an insurgent politic among the next generation of leaders in healthcare that represent the values, perspectives, and wisdom of the those greatest affected by systems of oppression, those that have historically been barred from the academy and the health professions. The program is dedicated to nurturing the talents of trainees who already show promise and commitment to advancing health justice in society and social mission in health professional training. The yearlong fellowship will allow participants to hone their skills, provide them with new skills, and broaden their networks in ways that will help sustain them in their future work. We are elated to welcome the 2023-2024 class of Health Justice fellows!
Meet the 2023-2024 Fellows
Jamie Eidsath | University of Michigan School of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery MSN Class of 2025
Jamie is originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico and currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is a second career nurse after attending homebirths as a Certified Professional Midwife. Her professional focus is anti-racism and LGBTQUIA+ inclusion with the goal of eliminating disparate outcomes in underserved childbearing populations.
Kiara Marmolejos | Yale Physician Associate Program Class of 2023
Kiara was born and raised in Brooklyn, NYC and is a proud City University of New York (CUNY) graduate. She hopes to use her career in medicine as a social justice and advocacy tool. She also has interests in diversifying the PA profession in order to progress health equity, combat scientific and medical racism in curricula, and improve outcomes across the nation.
Ujuoñu “Uju” Nwizu | UCLA School of Public Health Class of 2025
Uju was born in New York City and grew up in Mississippi and various parts of Nigeria. Their professional interests include health equity advocacy with a specific focus on how anti-Black racism and ableism have impacted health education, access to care, and health promotion. Their specific interests include the intersection of HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and mental health.
Temitope “Aisha” Oshilaja | Harvard School of Dental Medicine Class of 2024
Aisha Oshilaja grew up in central New Jersey in a tight-knit Nigerian family. Her goal is to bring dental care to the most vulnerable populations such as children and justice involved people through an improvement of the dental healthcare delivery model.
María J. Ruiz, MPH | The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine Class of 2024
María was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and migrated to the United States when she was 13 years old. María is applying to Internal Medicine residency and plans to become a physician-advocate who provides excellent, compassionate, language-concordant medical care.
Makeen Yasar | Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine Class of 2027
Makeen Yasar was raised in Palmdale, California whose roots originate from Los Angeles and St. Louis, Missouri. A long-term L.A. resident, Yasar has recently started as a first year as part of Charles Drew University’s inaugural class of students, and seeks to become a family practice physician committed to revolutionary community centered healing and the transformation of health systems.
Stacie Davis | Howard University College of Dentistry Class of 2024
Stacie returns this year as our Senior Health Justice Fellow. She is a proud native of St. Louis, Missouri who plans to be a public health dentist. Her focus is on becoming a mentor to her community and advocate for decreasing health injustice and disparities in the field of dentistry.
