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African Americans represent almost 12% of Missouri’s population and almost 13% of American’s population. Unfortunately, African Americans men, women, and children suffer disproportionately from the racial disparity imbedded within the American Healthcare system. This disparity in diagnosis, treatment, and access to affordable healthcare has been recognized as a direct contributor to a multitude of illness and chronic conditions that not only negatively impact individuals and families, but also the American workplace.
What can you and your organization do to provide equality in healthcare? Consider donating or sponsoring support for the 2024 African American Healthcare Summit.
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Dr. Kanika Cunnigham is the Director of the St. Louis County Health Department. As such she manages the facility and workforce that’s responsible for the healthcare needs of almost one million St. Louis County residents.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Dr. Cunningham worked at Family Care Health Center as the Associate Medical Director of FCHC’s Carondelet site since March 2019, during which time she also served as clinical faculty to St. Louis University’s Department of Family and Community Medicine.
She is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society and serves as a consulting physician to the Missouri State Opioid Response Team. Dr. Cunningham has also helped craft the Faith Based Opioid Initiative, which engages communities of faith, primarily in African American neighborhoods.
Dr. Cunnigham is married, with two daughters and resides in nearby St. Charles Missouri.
Dr. Aramide Ayorinde is a healthcare leader with over 20 years of industry experience – more than 18 of those being with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Dr. Ayorinde currently serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Family Care Health Centers (FCHC), a community health center, providing Medical, Dental and Behavioral Health Services to individuals in the St. Louis community. Prior to this role, she oversaw the operations of a network of 11 FQHCs that serviced nearly 90,000 individuals in Philadelphia and its neighboring communities. In this position she amassed a wealth of knowledge and expertise in executive and clinical leadership teams.
Dr. Ayorinde also currently serves on the boards of the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley chapter of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America and Ready Readers. Her engagement with these organizations deepens her understanding of the challenges affecting marginalized and under-represented groups, and how she can use her platform as an executive to catalyze change within them.
In her free time, Dr. Ayorinde enjoys traveling, watching sports, spending time with family, and relaxing.
Dr. Ayorinde holds a Bachelors degree in Public Health, a Masters degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Healthcare Management and received a Doctorate degree from Rutgers University in Urban Systems, with a specialization in Urban Health.
Ollie Stewart started her amazing journey in community engagement and governmental affairs in 1970 as a management aide trainee with the St. Louis Housing Authority. In 1972 she became the Program Director/Supervisor for the five (5) sites for the Near Southside Area Older Adult Program. Realizing there was a need for services to the elderly and disabled, in 1975 she founded the Southside Senior Center and in 1992 the Southside Wellness Center. Both of these institutions provide a wide variety of community services for the senior citizens and adults with disabilities.
As executive director of the Southside Wellness Center in St. Louis, Missouri, Ollie Stewart has dedicated her career to ministering and serving as an advocate for the many issues facing the largely powerless, but growing, elderly population in the United States. Stewart is widely known and often recognized as an innovator and as a positive force for institutional changes on behalf of Senior Citizens at the local, state and national levels. Stewart’s work and dedication has made her an often sought-after advisor and Board member of a number of elderly advocacy organizations and has led her to chair several organizations and coalitions. Her wisdom and knowledge enabled her to serve as a host of a number of training seminars and workshops addressing issues impacting the elderly and has led her to be chosen as a delegate to multiple White House Conferences. Ms. Stewart received numerous Certificate of Outstanding Contributions for her service on The White House Conference on Aging Taskforce and for more than 45 years, Stewart has amassed a level of expertise and dedication to the causes and concerns of Senior Citizens that has made her, quite humbly, a force with which to be reckoned.
In 2022, the 3000 block of Park Avenue (from Cardinal Avenue to Montrose Avenue) was granted the honorary street name of Ollie Stewart Way in recognition of her many years of work and accomplishments in the community.