Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH is a Brooklyn-rooted, proud daughter of Antigua. Trained in pediatrics and preventive medicine/public health, she is an executive physician and cultural strategist with expertise in social entrepreneurship, narrative change, policy, neighborhood health strategies, health innovation, coalition building, and organizational change management to advance health and equity. Dr. Maybank’s unique expertise stems from launching several ‘start-up’ Centers and Offices for health equity within health institutions to meet and exceed organizational commitments to embed equity in all policies and functions.
Recently, she founded three intersecting ventures striving to expand the public narrative around what truly shapes health beyond clinical care, leveraging arts, narrative, culture, and policy to advance health, equity, and joy. Novellawells, LLC, an advisory and consultancy practice focuses on public health strategy and experiential innovation through culture, arts, and policy, operating from the reality that every policy impacts health. Truthlight Studio, LLC, a production company co-founded with health and film experts, illuminates the truthful, often invisible narratives of health. House of Novellawells for Creative Health, Inc. activates the transformative power of creativity to advance individual and collective wellbeing through artistic collaboration and cultural innovation reimagining how society understands and supports health.
Most notably in her career, she helped create an entirely new category of health leadership when she became the American Medical Association’s inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer in 2019. She was among the first to hold this title at a major national organization in the country, transforming health equity from a departmental function into a C-suite imperative across U.S. medicine. Recognizing her success and talent, the CDC Director invited her to formally advise on strengthening their internal equity infrastructure during the height of COVID.
Prior to that, she served as Deputy Commissioner and Founding Director of the Center for Health Equity at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene where she led neighborhood-level initiatives including expansions to teen pregnancy prevention and gun violence prevention programs, the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the country’s first health department-sponsored neighborhood-based doula program, and one of the first place-based community health worker efforts in public housing.
In 2012, Dr. Maybank co-founded “We Are Doc McStuffins,” a movement of Black women physicians inspired by Disney Junior’s beloved character. Recognizing the power of culture and animation to shape imagination, she appeared on the Doc McStuffins series and participated in campaigns encouraging young people, especially Black girls, to envision themselves in medicine.
In the media and on the lecture circuit, Dr. Maybank is highly sought after, appearing on MSNBC, NBC, PBS to name a few and has written op-eds in places like NYT and Washington Post. Her honors are numerous and wide-ranging: appointment to the U.S. Defense Health Board under the Biden Administration by Secretary Lloyd Austin; a Telly Award for hosting a conversation with Harriet Washington on Racism & Health in US Medicine; and highest honors from her alma maters, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Temple University School of Medicine, and the American College of Preventive Medicine.
At the core of her efforts is a simple and expansive truth: ‘every policy is health policy’ and health is shaped by where we live, work, play, and pray. Dr. Maybank builds solutions that honor this reality: integrating arts, narrative, and the social drivers of health into approaches that make visible what has long been invisible, honor history, and unapologetically center joy.
