Karen Aletha Maybank is an American physician, with family roots in Antigua. She is board certified in both pediatrics and preventive medicine/public health. Currently, Dr. Maybank is the Chief Health Equity Officer and Vice President of the American Medical Association.
Early life and education
Maybank was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from Johns Hopkins University, a Medical Degree from Temple University School of Medicine, and a Master of Public Health from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Career
Dr. Maybank is a founding board member of the Artemis Medical Society, an international mentoring, networking, and advocacy organization of over 2,500 Black female physicians established in June 2012.[1][2]
Later in 2012, she co-founded "We Are Doc McStuffins," along with two other founding members of the Artemis Medical Society, Dr. Myiesha Taylor, Dr. Naeemah Ghafur, who were inspired by the Disney Junior character Doc McStuffins.[3] This initiative, in celebration of Black History Month, featured several shorts of Doc along with Dr. Taylor, Dr. Ghafur, and Dr. Maybank sharing what their jobs as physicians were like and who they look up to.
Her areas of expertise include preventive medicine, food and fitness, maternal and child health, cancer, HIV/AIDS, community health, and health inequities.
Maybank served on two medical mission trips to Haïti in 2010. She assisted with the post-earthquake relief efforts and provided direct health care to child survivors.
Maybank created the blog, "On Call in the City", in an effort to make health an accessible topic "wherever one lives, works, plays, and prays”.[4][5] She has a bi-weekly column, Doctor's Orders, on the website of EBONY magazine.[4][6] The column was established for Maybank to share her health expertise with the African American community-at-large. She is also a contributor for Huffington Post.[7]
She has been honored by the National Coalition of 100 Black Men, the Hip Hop Loves Foundation, and others (see Awards).
Maybank was a guest speaker at Kechie's Project and Bread & Roses High School Fashion Showcase in Harlem, NY on June 18, 2013.[8] She spoke on a panel at the ESSENCE Festival Empowerment Experience Panels titled I Beat: Healthy, Journeys & Transformations on July 5, 2013.[9] The topic was that maintaining healthy lifestyles require work and the panel experts shared tips on how to achieve overall fitness and diet goals.
Maybank was appointed the Associate Commissioner of the Center for Health Equity with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2014.[10][1] She is the founding director of the department's Center of Health Equity.[11]
In April 2019, she joined the American Medical Association (AMA) as their inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer and Vice President.[12][13] In that role she co-authored and edited the AMA’s guidance document Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative, and Concepts,[14] which asked "questions about language and commonly used phrases and terms, with the goal of cultivating awareness about dominant narratives and offering equity-based, equity-explicit, and person-first alternatives."
Awards
Television
Maybank is a weekly television contributor on ARISE America, a program on the Arise News channel.
She has appeared or been profiled on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry show, BET's 106 & Park, HuffPost Live, Our World with Black Enterprise, FOX 5 NY Good Day Street Talk, and various other outlets.
Film
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Deadliest Disease in America | Advisor |
| 2012 | Soul Food Junkies | Advisor |
| 2013 | The Tale of Timmy Two Chins | Advisor |
- 'Meet Dr. Aletha Maybank, Champion of Public Health', Jet Magazine, June 27, 2013
- 'A Physician on a Mission', Amsterdam News, May 23, 2013
References
- 1 2 "Aletha Maybank, MPH '06". www.mailman.columbia.edu. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "About Us". www.artemismedicalsociety.org. Artemis Medical Society. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ Ayot, Herina (22 July 2016). "Disney Celebrates Black History Month With "We Are Doc McStuffins" – EBONY". www.ebony.com. Ebony. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- 1 2 Rocque, Starrene Rhett (27 June 2013). "Meet Dr. Aletha Maybank, Champion of Public Health – JetMag.com". JetMag.com. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "About On Call in the City". On Call in the City with Dr. Aletha Maybank. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "Doctor's Orders". EBONY. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ↑ "Press". Kechie's Project. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ↑ "ESSENCE Festival Empowerment Experience Panels - Friday, July 5". Essence. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ↑ "Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH New Appointment Associate Commissioner of the Center for Health Equity". New York Empire State Medical Association. New York Empire State Medical Association. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ Abruzzo, Shavana (9 June 2015). "Dr. Althea Maybank: Doctor alters conversation about public health". Brooklyn Daily. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "Aletha Maybank , MD, MPH". American Medical Association. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ↑ "AMA announces first chief health equity officer". American Medical Association. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
- ↑ "Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts". American Medical Association. Retrieved 2022-11-11.
- ↑ "The Network Journal Announces its 2012 List of "40 Under Forty" Dynamic Achievers". PRWeb. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "5th Annual Beauty and the Beat: Heroines of Excellence Awards (PICS)". HauteGiving. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
- ↑ "NYC // NV Magazine's 2011 Movers & Shakers Soiree | Sept. 12 | Sinuous Magazine". Sinuous Magazine. 10 September 2011. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2016.