Natalie D. Hernandez, PhD, MPH

Dr. Hernandez received her Master of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology from Stony Brook University in New York. She earned her Ph.D. in public health and a graduate certificate in interdisciplinary women’s health from the University of South Florida. Dr. Hernandez was a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) maternal and child health leadership trainee and epidemiology trainee. She was also a Satcher Health Leadership Institute Health Policy Post-Doctoral Scholar at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). She has more than 16 years of experience implementing population health that engages diverse stakeholder groups.

Dr. Hernandez is an NIH-funded researcher and founding Director of the MSM Center for Maternal Health Equity who has obtained diverse extramural funding to develop multiple lines of research to advance science toward eliminating women’s health inequities, specifically with Black and Latinx populations. She has laid the groundwork for research in maternal health by establishing partnerships with local and national organizations dedicated to maternal morbidity and mortality disparities, evaluating maternal health interventions and programs, and validating effective measures of maternal mental health and medical mistrust as psychosocial factors.

Dr. Hernandez currently sits on a variety of committees, including Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, Georgia PRAMS Steering Committee, and more. She also sits on national organizations, including the American Public Health Association Committee on Health Equity, the Health Disparities Taskforce of the National Preeclampsia Foundation, and many others. Dr. Hernandez has presented her work at various international, national, state, and local conferences.