Dr. Dorian Odems is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Community Health. She earned her Ph.D. in Public Health Education from the University of Toledo and recently completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Davis. In this role, she supported the multi-campus Advancing Knowledge and Reproductive Justice: UC Community Research Hub. During her postdoc, she was selected for the inaugural cohort of the Ignite the Spark Scholars Program, funded by RWJF. With this grant, she collaborated with community partners in Oakland and Fresno, California, to conduct a pilot study aimed at developing a scale to measure exposure to structural racism, centering the experiences of Black women before, during, and after pregnancy. She is continuing this work to test the scale in other parts of the U.S. including the Midwest and the South.

Her research focuses on illuminating the role of anti-Black racism and gender-based violence on perinatal experiences and health outcomes. She is currently conducting the Mama Certified Birthing Experiences study, where she employs mixed-methods approaches to understand and improve the maternity care experiences of Black women in Cincinnati.