Hassanatu Blake is a global health and EdTech professional. Ms. Blake is the inaugural Director of Health Equity and Social Justice at the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO). She works to build the nation's local capacity and leverage opportunities that address barriers to health equity through institutional and policy change, community engagement, and research. As a American Public Health Association (APHA) International Health Student Committee (IHSC) Co-Chair, Hassanatu works to revitalize the committee to Connect, Train, and Mobilize students & early career professionals interested in international health. At Denver Arts + Technology Advancement (DATA), Hassanatu serves as a strategic board member to advise on new immersive technologies in education.
Previously, Ms. Blake addressed environmental health inequities in North Birmingham as a FUSE Executive Fellow at the City of Birmingham, AL, managed PEPFAR HIV programming as an ASPPH Global Health Fellow at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Namibia, supported public health missions in the Global South as Program Manager at USAID/GHTECH, helped develop and launch a management and leadership academy for health professional in Zambia as a Capacity Building & Training Specialist at BroadReach Healthcare/BRITE, and led a global EdTech non-profit organization as Co-Founder and President at Focal Point Global, which empowered over 20,000 youth and families in US, The Gambia, South Africa, Namibia, and Cameroon.
Hassanatu holds degrees from Tufts University (B.A.), Emory Rollins School of Public Health (MPH), and Plymouth State University (MBA). She is currently a doctoral student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a focus on digital health, and health education and promotion. She has been recognized by the US White House Champions of Change Initiative under the Obama Administration, and Young Professionals in Foreign Policy & the Diplomatic Courier Top 99 Under 33 Foreign Policy Leaders; featured in Black Enterprise; TEDx Speaker; and has served as Keynote Speaker and lead author on numerous education, tech, health, and business conferences, institutions, and publications.