Black Health Education Collaborative

Dr. OmiSoore Dryden

Dr. OmiSoore H. Dryden (she/her/hers), a Black queer femme and associate professor, is the James R Johnston Endowed Research Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Faculty of Medicine; Interim Director of the Black Studies Research Institute (in STEMM) at Dalhousie University, and the co-founder and co-lead of the national organization, the Black Health Education Collaborative. Dr. Dryden is an internationally recognized subject matter expert in intersectional Black health, Anti-Racism health equity, and engages in interdisciplinary scholarship and research that focuses on Black LGBTQI communities, blood donation systems in Canada, anti-Black racism in healthcare, medical education, and Black health curricular content development. OmiSoore has published in peer-reviewed journals and book collections and her book, Got Blood to Give: Anti-Black Homophobia in Blood Donation, with Fernwood Publishing will be published Fall 2024, and the co-authored article “Black Health Education Collaborative: the important role of Critical Race Theory in disrupting Anti-Black Racism in Medical Practice and Education” (2022) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Dr. Onye Nnorom

Dr. Onye Nnorom is a distinguished physician, advocate, public speaker, and leader in the field of public health and equity. She is a family doctor and public health and preventive medicine specialist and Assistant Professor at Dalla Lana School of Public Health and the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is the co-founder of the Black Health Education Collaborative, a national organization committed to transforming medical and health professional education in service of improved health of Black communities across Canada. Born in Montreal to parents of Nigerian and Trinidadian backgrounds, she learned at an early age the impact of social injustice and the power of community action. Dr. Nnorom completed her medical training at McGill University and then completed a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology) and residency training at the University of Toronto. With a particular focus on Black populations, her expertise lies in the intersection of racism and health, and she has been instrumental in advancing equitable healthcare practices and medical education policies.

Prof. Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh

Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh is the Executive Director of the Black Health Education Collaborative and an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Public Health Division at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. She is a catalytic leader who mobilizes knowledge and activates networks to advance policy and practice on social and economic issues that impact health and wellbeing.  She spent a decade with the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, where she provided leadership to public health practice on health equity, the social determinants of health including racism, in partnership with institutions across Canada. She has served in an advisory capacity for working groups and committees led by numerous national health organizations including the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Information and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Sume provides strategic consultations to organizations as principal of Another World Lab. She holds a Master of Health Sciences in Health Promotion and Global Health from the University of Toronto. Hailing from Cameroon, she is grateful to live, work and play in Turtle Island and is committed to  working towards decolonial futures.

Dr. Samra Sahlu

Dr. Samra Sahlu is an adult psychiatrist who splits her time between Saskatchewan and Tkaronto. She was born and raised in Treaty 4 Territory, and completed her medical school and residency training in psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan. She completed the Diversity Leadership Fellowship through the American Psychiatric Association, where she served on the Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities. She has practiced psychiatry in hospital, outpatient, ER, and corrections settings, and her professional interests include advocacy, mentorship, cultural psychiatry, transgender/ gender diverse care, community engagement, and collaboration with the arts. She is proud to be part of  AMANI’s Mental Health & Substance Use Program (historically referred to as SAPACCY - Substance Abuse Program for African Canadian and Caribbean Youth) Team at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)  and the Mobile Crisis Team supported by TAIBU Community Health Centre. She commutes back to Saskatchewan to provide gender-affirming psychiatric care.