Washington, DC (Feb. 1, 2022) — Women's Health Issues welcomes to its editorial board two new members with expertise in multiple aspects of women's health: Ndidiamaka Amutah–Onukagha, PhD, MPH, of Tufts University School of Medicine, and Kristin M. Mattocks, PhD, MPH, of the UMass Chan Medical School. Women’s Health Issues is the official journal of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, which is based at Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University.
Ndidiamaka Amutah–Onukagha, PhD, MPH is the inaugural Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health and Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her current research interests include health disparities, reproductive health, maternal and infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS in Black women. She is the Principal Investigator of two multi-year studies on maternal mortality and morbidity, an R01 funded by the National Institutes of Health, and an interdisciplinary grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is a member of the MA-COVID 19 Maternal Equity Coalition and co-chairs the Perinatal and Women’s Health committee in the Maternal and Child Health section of the American Public Health Association. She is also in the 2020-2021 class of the top 40 under 40 Minority Leaders in Healthcare, an annual award given out the National Minority Quality Forum. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the Founder and Director of the Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research (MOTHER) Lab, a research lab comprised of 35 students from undergrad to postdoc with a keen interest in reducing maternal health disparities as experienced by Black women.
Kristin M. Mattocks, PhD, MPH is the Associate Dean for Veterans Affairs and a Professor of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences at UMass Chan. She is a health services researcher who focuses on examining healthcare utilization, healthcare quality, and outcomes among veterans in both VA and non-VA care settings. In particular, her research on women veterans focuses on the reproductive health needs and service utilization of women veterans, with a particular focus on pregnant veterans. More recently, her research has focused on opioid use among pregnant and postpartum women. Dr. Mattocks also serves as the co-director of the VA Community Care Research Evaluation and Knowledge (CREEK) Center, which aims to foster collaboration and knowledge diffusion in VA community care research between VA investigators and the VA Office of Community Care. As a mixed methods researcher, Dr. Mattocks utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including in-person interviews, focus groups, survey design and analysis, and administrative database analysis. She has published numerous papers in various medical and health services research journals, and has collaborated with other health services researchers and clinicians on research.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Amutah–Onukagha and Dr. Mattocks join the editorial board of Women’s Health Issues,” said Amita Vyas, Editor-in-Chief of the journal and Associate Professor of Prevention and Community Health at Milken Institute SPH. “At a time when policymakers are seeking solutions to the problem of maternal mortality, the substantial expertise that Dr. Amutah–Onukagha and Dr. Mattocks have in maternal health will help us publish high-quality research to help improve outcomes and equity for birthing people and their families.”