Umu-Hawa is a born and raised native of Sierra Leone, who is pursuing an MD/MPH at the University of California San Diego and Harvard Chan School of Public Health. She is currently an MPH-45 Global Health student at HSPH. Umu-Hawa is passionate about improving health outcomes for Sierra Leoneans, Black and underserved populations within her sphere of influence. Her goal is to work within the global context utilizing her medical and public health training, research, and advocacy to dismantle inequities in surgical care for women and children.
Her project focuses on understanding the barriers to access to maternal health care in rural communities in Sierra Leone by exploring the perspectives of pregnant women, recent mothers, and community health workers. The goal is that these perspectives will influence the development of suitable interventions to improve maternal health outcomes in rural Sierra Leone.