Meet the Maryland Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (MHHD) Staff
 Mark Martin, PhD, MBA Director
Dr. Mark Martin currently serves as the Director for the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities for the State of Maryland. He has a passion for improving patient-centered care and for strengthening the continuum of care in communities through public and private partnerships. Dr. Martin brings over 25 years of combined professional experience in public health, hospital operations, financial services, and community and faith-based organizations.
In addition to earning a PhD in Leadership and Change from Antioch University where his seminal research focused on the role of servant leadership characteristics in developing an environment of empathic care in a primary care setting, Dr. Martin has earned an MBA and MHA from Pfeiffer University and an MA in Leadership from Antioch University. His combined academic and professional experience continues to fuel Dr. Martin’s efforts to research and develop innovations to improve patient-centered care and the patient experience.
 Arif A. Vega, PhD Chief D.E.I. Officer of Programs & Cultural Competencies
Dr. Vega comes to MHHD with a distinguished 28-year career in healthcare, where he has developed, implemented, and managed programs that focused on the intersection of representation, access, HIV/HCV prevention, education, and care. As the Chief D.E.I Officer of Programs & Cultural Competencies for the Maryland Department of Health Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, he created strategies to address medical care inequities within minority communities while managing over $12 million in grants. Dr. Vega has been instrumental in implementing strategy and embedding diversity, equity, service learning, and civic engagement within agency-wide policy and training curricula throughout the care continuum for vulnerable communities. Fluent in nine languages (German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, Japanese, Czech, and Polish), Dr. Vega has an Ph.D. in Psycholinguistics, and an MBA from Harvard University. In addition, he obtained his Master of Psychology Counseling.
Dr. Vega is committed to proactively advocating for diversity with inclusion, equity with empowerment, access with action, and outreach with respect. His conviction is to consistently respect others while recognizing the value of individual, cultural, and spiritual nuances.
 David Mann, MD, PhDEpidemiologist
Dr. David A Mann is the Epidemiologist at the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities (MHHD) in the Maryland Department of Health, at 75% FTE. His other 25% FTE is spent as an Instructor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University Of Medicine School Of Medicine. Dr. Mann received his BA in Biology from The Johns Hopkins University in 1978, his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1982, and his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore in 2007. Before coming to Maryland for epidemiology and public health training in 1998, Dr. Mann practiced primary care medicine in the greater Boston area for 14 years. At DHMH Dr. Mann was a co-author of the Maryland Plan to Eliminate Minority Health Disparities, released in 2006 by MHHD; and principal author of the Maryland Chartbook of Minority Health and Minority Health Disparities Data, released in 2007, 2009 (2nd Edition) and 2012 (3rd edition) by MHHD. He has been an invited speaker on health disparities data at several venues. At DEPH in UMB SOM, Dr. Mann is the faculty co-leader of the Departmental Journal Club, participates in the Department’s epidemiology teaching for medical students, and teaches the summer course in Chronic Disease Epidemiology for graduate students.
Namisa K. Kramer, MS
MOTA Program Administrator
Ms. Namisa K. Kramer was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She attained her Primary and Secondary school education in Sierra Leone and moved to the United States in 1989. While in the U.S., Ms. Kramer attended the University of New Mexico and attained a BSc. Degree in Community Health Education, with a Minor in Nutrition and Child Development. She then attained her MS degree in Health Education and at the same time pursued a certification in Tropical Medicine and public health from Johns Hopkins University. Ms. Kramer worked for seven years with the Maryland Department of Health, as a Community Health Educator at the Center for Health Promotion, Education, and Tobacco Use Prevention. She then left in 2011 for her beloved country, Sierra Leone during the economic downturn, where she worked for three years as the first female Monitoring and Evaluation Officer with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation. During the Ebola outbreak, Ms. Kramer returned to the U.S. and briefly secured a job with the Maryland Department of Aging as the Human Services Specialist Supervisor. She then applied for a position with the Minority Health and Health Disparities Office, where she is now the Program Administrator for the Minority Outreach and Technical Assistance (MOTA) Program.
 Nzube Egboluche, PhDResearch Statistician
Dr. Nzube Egboluche has served as a Data Analyst for the Maryland Health and Health Disparities (MHHD) since January 2022. Before joining MHHD, Dr. Egboluche earned her bachelor’s degree in Soil Science from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria. She relocated to the USA in 2015 to pursue her master’s program in Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, and received her MS degree in 2017. Dr. Egboluche earned her Ph.D. in Bioenvironmental Sciences from Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, in 2022. Throughout her graduate program, she acquired enormous research and data analysis skills and expertise.
Dr. Egboluche’s passion for public health and community development stemmed from her volunteering opportunity with the Global Health and Education Projects. Inc (GHEP) at Riverdale, Maryland, for over four years. GHEP is a non-profit organization focused on bridging the educational and health disparity gap through different outreach programs and community service activities. She utilized her skills in developing programs that contributed to equity in the health and education sector. Dr. Egboluche brings her wealth of knowledge and expertise to promote the mission of MHHD while serving as a data analyst.
|
