Maranda C. Ward, EdD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership and Emerging Scholars Fellow in Antiracism and Health Equity in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. In this role, she designs, evaluates, and teaches health equity curriculum for undergraduate students that integrates her #EquityMatters podcast. Her teaching excellence was recognized with the highest teaching honor at GW- the 2020 Morton A. Bender Teaching award. Dr. Ward is an expert in advancing anti-racism efforts within health sciences education and in designing curricula to enable student and faculty to competently promote health equity in practice. Her research focuses on stakeholder-engaged community-focused studies in youth and among health science career trainees. She is skilled in the application of participatory action research methods. She also serves as the Ambassador Program Lead for the GW Health Careers Opportunity Program. With this pipeline program, she ensures that students from historically excluded backgrounds are fully supported as they are introduced to the range of health professions and the social, technical, and professional skills necessary to be successful. However, when asked, she describes herself as a community educator, curriculum developer, and youth builder. She has strong commitments to service-learning, equity, community legacy, youth development, and honoring youth voice. As an affiliate faculty for the GW Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, she translated her participatory action research on youth identity into a youth-led canvas-based mural on preserving D.C. legacy. Dr. Ward's research is further converted into practice as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Promising Futures - a youth development pipeline for D.C. youth ages 11-24 that integrates a social justice approach to positive youth development using edu-tainment to invite youth to explore their civic and social identities, social inequities, and health seeking behaviors. She is also a certified trainer for three Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) evidence-based interventions: Focus on Youth + ImPACT, VOICES/VOCES, and Project AIM. She also authored a curriculum based on the Social Change Model of Leadership for undergraduate GW business school students to implement a citywide social entrepreneurship venture with D.C. youth. When she is not teaching or serving on-campus, she is engaged in DC in a range of capacities. For instance, she is on the board of trustees for the Washington School for Girls and founding board member of Girls Rock DC. She also serves on the Sibley Memorial Hospital & Johns Hopkins Medicine advisory board for wellness projects in wards 7 and 8. The DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser, appointed her to fill the Ward 8 seat on the Mayor's Commission on Health Equity. The National Minority Quality Forum recognized her as one of the 2019 "40 Under 40" Leaders in Minority Health and the Leadership Center also added her as a 2019 “40 Under 40” honoree among young leaders in the metropolitan DC area as well as their DMV Diversity and Inclusion Fellow. She also received the 2021 Stigma Warrior Award during the 12th Annual International Conference on Stigma for going above and beyond in her field to fight discrimination among historically marginalized populations. Maranda earned her Doctorate in Education from GW, her Master's in Public Health from Tulane University, and her Bachelor's degrees in Sociology and Anthropology from Spelman College. She enjoys learning from youth, traveling, and brunch. For more information, visit www.marandaward.com