Our Story
Our founder, Dr. Omolara Uwemedimo spent over 15 years as a pediatrician, researcher, professor and activist, committed to creating health equity for diverse communities in the U.S. and abroad. However, within the span of one week in May of 2019, she found herself unable to walk. Unbeknownst to her, she was about to become a statistic. After 2 weeks, she received her diagnosis — a brain lesion indicating multiple sclerosis, a chronic, autoimmune disorder.
As she tried to understand how and why this happened, she was confronted with a chilling fact. She was not alone. She was now one of the millions of Black & brown individuals who are disproportionately diagnosed with chronic autoimmune disorders, infertility, cardiovascular diseases and other life-long diseases.
This was beyond alarming. And the implications were deadly. If people of color in healthcare aren’t able to stay healthy, they wouldn’t be able to continue their work of delivering healthcare and advocating for communities dealing with health injustice who desperately need them .
Our mission became to make it easier for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) in healthcare to transform healthcare on their own terms. However, the biggest roadblock was funding. We developed a method to help them secure the funding they need to serve the communities they are called to, so they can create the health justice they wanted to see in the world.
Melanin & Medicine works to increase the reach of these innovations by ensuring health organizations that are working to transform diverse communities have the funding to sustain their work.
We provide support to diverse CEOs who want to expand their health practices for more impact, using social entrepreneurship methodology and our proprietary Profitable Partnerships framework to secure funding.
The health justice movement must happen now and we exist to make sure that mission-driven health practice owners have the funding to lead the way.
The story of Melanin & Medicine has always been about health justice. Yet, we were founded because of a very real experience with health injustice.
As Melanin & Medicine grew - our mission became greater.
Meet the CEO
Dr. Omolara Thomas Uwemedimo is a healthcare founder, social entrepreneurship coach, healthcare practice funding consultant and growth strategist for women of color in healthcare.
Her career as a pediatrician spans almost 2 decades and includes her work as a public health researcher & professor for over a decade. Her work has been defined by a passion for social justice, serving as an advocate and working as a global physician across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
In 2019, she co-founded Strong Children Wellness, a multi-award winning, healthcare practice network in NYC, providing integrated physical health, mental health and social services for minoritized, low-income children and families. Her healthcare network has been featured in the New York Times, NY1 News and Crain's for their reverse integration model, embedding care within community organizations including nonprofits and foster care agencies.
Given her expertise and success as a healthcare founder & owner of multiple healthcare practices, Dr. Omolara went on to found Melanin & Medicine, a premier social entrepreneurship & funding consulting company to help mission-driven practices secure capital, without incurring debt or diluting equity, to grow their own income streams and social impact. To date, Melanin & Medicine has helped hundreds of healthcare professionals through our workshops, courses and programs to build social impact businesses and achieve health equity for communities. In addition, they support thousands more through our popular Funding Your Healthcare Vision weekly podcast.
Dr. Uwemedimo is an expert in purpose-led entrepreneurship, securing funding for healthcare, addressing medical racism for marginalized providers and patients and building socially-responsive healthcare spaces. Her work has been featured in several media outlets including People.com, NBC News, Medscape, Essence.com, Newsweek, Crain’s, Politico, Reuters, and NPR.
Dr. Uwemedimo lives in Long Island, NY with her husband, Ilahi, and her two powerhouse daughters, Idara & Tolani.
DR. OMOLARA
Uwemedimo
Meet the Team
Raelynn is a Project Manager, Strategist & Program Specialist with a demonstrated history of working with non-profits, religious institutions and educational programs. She is committed to using her skills and integrity of heart to serve people, organizations, and institutions that promote, protect, and provide equity, justice and love to all people. Raelynn's focus within Melanin & Medicine is centered around not only providing operational support for the team but also leading research of partners & funders for our clients to streamline their funding journey.
RAELYNN
EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR & outreach specialist
CLIENT EXPERIENCE LEAD
Janae, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia is the Client Experience Lead and uses her extensive customer service experience and expertise in supporting our clients to ensure they are making progress in their funding journey and supporting their productivity. She is a born multitasker and uses her training in project management to help clients organize their plan for success. She is able to provide advice and support to our clients on strengthening their operations including email management, scheduling, payroll, expense reporting, client communication, website updates, and more.
