Dana Allison
Dana Allison, founder and executive director of Women’s World Health Initiative (WWHI), has been a champion of social justice since childhood. A native of Alberta, Canada, Dana has long believed that the strength, freedoms and health of a country’s women determines the strength of that nation. Dana graduated from the University of Chicago with a double honors degree in political science and public policy. Following her time at university, Dana researched the mental health of HIV-infected refugee women in Toronto, Canada. Her research took her to Ethiopia where she witnessed, for the first time, medicine in the developing world and all the inherent disparities. Her interest in medicine took her to the University of Utah medical school. During her time there, Dana traveled to the Thailand/Burma border and interned with the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) in MaeLa refugee camp. Part of her duties in the refugee camp included working in the maternity clinic. It was during that time, that Dana realized the impact related to the presence or absence of a healthy mother. She witnessed the devastation to not only the family, but also the community at large, when a woman died due to complications related to childbirth. Using her academic training in policy and economics combined with her healthcare training and experiences, Dana founded WWHI in 2009 to help empower vulnerable communities, particularly women, by providing access to sustainable healthcare provisions during pregnancy and childbirth. Dana is married with three children. She currently resides in the United Kingdom.
