Ayanna was born to Caribbean immigrants in NYC. She earned a BA in Biology and Society from Cornell University, where she started to connect her interests in health and the study of populations and societies. She deepened her knowledge and skillset with an MS in Epidemiology from The University of Iowa. After an MD from La Universidad Autόnoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), and two years at the Morehouse School of Medicine Internal Medicine Residency, Ayanna returned to population-level health at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She worked on a 100+ stakeholder citywide hypertension initiative coalition to address hypertension prevention, control, and disparities. Then in 2020, like so many public health professionals, Ayanna was activated for the public health front lines in New York City’s COVID-19 response: working in surveillance, evaluation, community outreach, health systems, and vaccination efforts. She obtained valuable experiences, which she carried with her to the CDC Foundation (CDCF). As an epidemiologist at the CDCF, she supported local and state health departments in COVID-19 contact tracing, substance abuse, and HCV disease surveillance.
Her research interests include disease surveillance, reversing health disparities, and increasing community ownership in health interventions. While in Wisconsin, Ayanna looks forward to expanding her tennis, bicycling, hiking, and ice skating interests.