Speaker: Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah, PhD, MHS, RN, FAHA, FAAN
Dr. Yvonne Commodore-Mensah is Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, with a joint appointment in Epidemiology at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. She directs the Glocal Cardiovascular Health Equity Lab and serves as Co-Chair of the National Hypertension Control Roundtable.
An AHA Fellow and inductee of the American Academy of Nursing, she is the incoming President of the Preventive Cardiovascular Nurses Association and a writing committee member for the 2025 AHA/ACC Hypertension Guidelines. Her research advances cardiovascular health equity across African and diaspora communities.
Speaker: Dr. Dzifa Ahadzi, BSc, MBChB, MGCP, FWACP
Dr. Dzifa Ahadzi is a Senior Specialist Physician and Cardiologist at the Tamale Teaching Hospital in Ghana’s Northern Region, where she serves as Head of Cardiology and Postgraduate Training Coordinator for the Department of Medicine. Her research focuses on hypertension, heart failure, and women’s cardiovascular health, with an emphasis on patient self-care and self-management. She is an immediate past Executive Member of the Ghanaian Society of Cardiology, a 2024 World Heart Federation Emerging Leader, a 2026 Emerging Hypertension Leader and a Fogarty SCaRT Fellow. She received the Yale Partnerships for Global Health RITES Award (2022), serves on AMPATH Tamale’s Chronic Disease Management Working Group, and reviews for the Ghana Medical and Springer Nature Journals.
Speaker: Dr. Oluwabunmi Ogungbe, PhD, MPH, BNSc, RN
Dr. Oluwabunmi Ogungbe is an Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with affiliations at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity and the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research. A cardiovascular nurse scientist and AHA Fellow, she leads NIH- and AHA-funded studies integrating digital health, community engagement, and implementation science to advance cardiovascular health equity. Her work spans culturally tailored hypertension interventions, diversity in cardiovascular trials, and multilevel determinants of inequities. She is a 2024 recipient of the Johns Hopkins Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Community Service.
Speaker: Dr. Bolade Folasade Dele-Ojo, MBBS, FMCP, MSc, MP
Dr. Bolade Folasade Dele-Ojo is Head of the Department of Medicine at Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, and Consultant Physician/Cardiologist at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. She holds an MBBS from the University of Ilorin, is a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (FMCP—Internal Medicine, Cardiology), and holds Master’s degrees in Physiology and Public Administration. With approximately 50 publications and a co-authored Essential Textbook of Medicine, her research focuses on hypertension, preventive cardiology, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and mobile health. She is President-elect of the Medical Women Association of Nigeria, Ekiti State Chapter.
