Dr. Maranda Ward

Dr. Maranda C. Ward is an Assistant Professor and Director of Equity in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In this role, she designs, evaluates, and teaches health equity curriculum for student and faculty learners. Her teaching excellence was recognized with the highest teaching honor at GW- the 2021 Morton A. Bender Teaching award. Dr. Ward is an expert in advancing anti-racism efforts within health professions education and in designing curricula to enable students and faculty to competently promote health and racial equity in practice. Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and antiracism educational interventions as well as stakeholder-engaged community-focused studies on HIV, Black women’s health, and youth identity. As a member of the DC Center for AIDS Research (DC CFAR), she is the principal investigator on Two in One: HIV and COVID Screening & Testing Model that allows her to lead national research-based educational intervention for primary care practitioners to routinize screening and testing HIV, PrEP, and the COVID vaccine. This research will lead to a set of policy recommendations for overall practice-based changes and culturally responsive messaging for racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minoritized patients. She is also skilled in the application of participatory action research methods. As an affiliate faculty for the GW Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, she translated her participatory action research on youth identity into a youth-led canvas-based mural on preserving D.C. legacy. Dr. Ward’s research is further converted into practice as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Promising Futures – a youth development pipeline for D.C. youth ages 11-24 that integrates a social justice approach to positive youth development using edu-tainment to invite youth to explore their civic and social identities, social inequities, and health seeking behaviors. When she is not teaching or serving on-campus, she is engaged in DC in a range of capacities. For instance, she is on the board of trustees for the Washington School for Girls and founding board member of Girls Rock DC. She also serves on the Sibley Memorial Hospital & Johns Hopkins Medicine advisory board for wellness projects in wards 7 and 8. The DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser, appointed her to fill an advisory board seat on the Mayor’s Commission on Health Equity. When asked, she describes herself as a community educator, curriculum developer, and youth builder. She has strong commitments to service-learning, equity, community legacy, youth development, and honoring youth voice. Maranda earned the 2023 GW Black Alumni Impact award, the 2022 Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Community Engagement Award by Transform Mid-Atlantic, the 2020-2021 GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences Diversity and Inclusion Award as well as the 2021 Stigma Warrior Award during the 12th Annual International Conference on Stigma at Howard University for going above and beyond in her field to fight discrimination among historically marginalized populations. She has been consulted by Ebony.com, Rolling Out Magazine, DCist, the Washington Post for her research on HIV disparities and featured on a live segment of Good Morning Washington, NPR’s Morning Edition and the KevinMD podcast for her health equity expertise. Maranda earned her Doctorate in Education from GW, her Master’s in Public Health from Tulane University, and her Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Anthropology from Spelman College. She enjoys learning from youth, traveling, and brunch. For more information, visit www.marandaward.com.

“I have witnessed the evolution of Athletes United into TGP and into Grassroots Health. With this memory, comes knowledge, energy and commitment to advancing even further to meet the dynamic needs of youth and their families.”