Aletha Maybank

Aletha Maybank is Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer at the American Medical Association (AMA), where she spearheads the organization’s Center for Health Equity, advocating for equity and racial justice. Dr. Maybank's leadership ranges from her role as founding director of the Center for Health Equity at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to her impactful publications on topics such as anti-racist praxis in medicine and reparations for Black American descendants. Recognized globally for her pioneering work, she was named among 10 executives to watch in 2024 by Modern Health Care and has received numerous awards, including the Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award of Excellence.

Prior to the AMA, Dr. Maybank served as the founding deputy commissioner for the Center for Health Equity at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Aimed at strengthening equity efforts and transforming organizational culture, the Center became a model of success recognized by city leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. She was instrumental in infusing equity at the neighborhood level and advancing the department’s place-based approach to addressing health inequities. She also set precedence with groundbreaking work at the Office of Minority Health in the Suffolk County Department of Health Services while serving as its founding director.

Dr. Maybank has taught medical and public health students on topics related to health inequities, public health leadership and management, physician advocacy, and community organizing in health. In 2012, she co-founded "We Are Doc McStuffins," a movement created by African American female physicians who were inspired by the Disney Junior character Doc McStuffins to shine a light on the critical importance of diversity in medicine.

She is a highly sought-after health expert appearing on national and influential media outlets such as NPR, MSNBC, NewsOne, Roland Martin, the Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association. Due to her leadership in the COVID-19 response efforts, she was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and authored the New York Times Op-Ed piece, “The Pandemic’s Missing Data” to bring more awareness to the structural inequities in the United States. She moderates the AMA bi-weekly web series, "Prioritizing Equity” that elevates the voices and stories of physicians centering equity in COVID-19 response efforts.

Dr. Maybank holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University, an MD from Temple University School of Medicine, and an MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is a pediatrician and preventive medicine/public health physician.