JHUCAYAH

ELISE TIRZA OHENE-KYEI, MD, MPH

Dr. Elise Tirza Ohene-Kyei is a physician, public health advocate, and storyteller whose journey spans the vibrant healthcare landscapes of Ghana, the United States, and the wider global stage.

She earned her medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where she discovered a love for research and a lifelong commitment to advancing health, especially for vulnerable populations such as women, children, and youth.

While there, and in her role as Regional Assistant for the African Region of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, Dr. Ohene-Kyei pioneered research exchange programs and enhanced existing clinical exchange initiatives, enabling peers in Ghana and across Africa to access transformative healthcare and research experiences around the world.

After practicing medicine in Ghana for two years, she moved to the United States to pursue a Master of Public Health Education at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. There, she tailored her studies to her passions, studying Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Child and Adolescent Health, and Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Recognizing the urgent need for culturally relevant menstrual health resources, Dr. Ohene-Kyei joined four fellow Ghanaian women to create the Poka Health App, a menstrual health app by African women for African women. As Chief Medical Officer, she applies her clinical expertise and research insight to bridge medical science with culturally grounded solutions, expanding health education and improving care access for women across the continent.

Beyond medicine, Dr. Ohene-Kyei is a writer at heart. She runs an award-winning blog Letters from this Heart, using fiction to explore unspoken social and personal issues. In 2019, she self-published her debut novel, Perspectives.

Dr. Ohene-Kyei is proud to be part of the Johns Hopkins Adolescent Medicine fellowship, in a place  committed to innovative care, interdisciplinary collaboration, and  mentorship that is both genuine and transformative.  Her training focuses on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, serving as a launchpad toward her goal of completing a Med-Peds residency preparing her to work with children, adolescents, and women across the lifespan and deepening her impact on youth health worldwide.

Stephanie Shea MD, MPH

Dr. Stephanie Shea (she/her) grew up in Massachusetts and her passion for working with teenagers and young adults started during her own adolescence as a gymnastics coach and swim instructor.  She received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University and was a graduate of Tulane’s Creative Premedical Scholars program with a bachelor’s degree in French and a minor in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. She then spent a year as an elementary school English teacher in Corbeil-Essonnes, France through the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF), before returning to her favorite city, New Orleans, to complete her medical and public health training (MD/MPH) followed by her Pediatric Residency through Tulane University. Dr. Shea is passionate about advocacy and her most formative experiences have come through learning to navigate Louisiana’s healthcare system burdened by severe disease, significant healthcare disparities, and limited resources. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, she co-founded a program, Business Resilience and Community Education (BRACE) for COVID-19 to address community public health challenges and helped over 50 small businesses, community spaces, and schools prepare for re-opening. Through this program, she also served as a public health informant and vaccine educator and took part in the New Orleans city government re-opening taskforce.

Dr. Shea is deeply passionate about reproductive justice and has conducted research locally, regionally, nationally, and globally on this topic. She was a scholar of Tulane’s Stimulating Access to Research in Residency - R-38 NIH funded program – where she investigated sexual health education in the Deep South and completed quantitative and qualitative research to explore Louisiana healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitudes, comfort, and practice of sex-ed in schools and clinical settings. While she is saddened to leave her NOLA community, she is thrilled to join the Adolescent team at Johns Hopkins where she can grow her clinical experiences and expand her research in sexual and reproductive health education. In her spare time, Dr. Shea loves biking, music, playing ultimate frisbee, and traveling around the world. She spent 11 years as a radio DJ in New Orleans, has lived in the U.S., France, and Morocco, and has explored over 16 different countries. On this next adventure, she is looking forward to exploring all that Maryland has to offer with her husband!

Christle nwora, md, MHS

Dr. Christle Nwora (she/her) was born in Dallas, Texas. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, she found community in the Multicultural Engagement Center (MEC) and dedicated her time towards advocating for marginalized communities on campus. She held senior leadership roles within the campus student government and the MEC which led to working alongside the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on the University of Texas vs Fisher II Supreme Court Case. Dr. Nwora continued her advocacy for marginalized communities and interest in student affairs into medical school. She completed her medical degree at the University of Texas at Houston where she served as the National Chair for the Organization of Student Representatives in Association of American Medical Colleges and created programs centering voices of unrepresented students in medicine.

 Dr. Nwora also nurtured her interested in primary care and completed her dual training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins Urban Health program, designed to prepare residents to be physical leaders and advocated within vulnerable urban communities. During her residency, she authored a children’s book (“The Hospital”) designed to demystify the hospital and celebrate all who work in healthcare. She developed a special interest in caring for young people with Sickle Cell Disease and has had additional clinical and research experience in this area. 

Dr. Nwora is excited to stay at Johns Hopkins to continue her training as an Adolescent Medicine Fellow. She will continue her research in the care of young people with Sickle Cell Disease and wants a career in medical education focused on student affairs, diversity and equity. She serves as a producer for the Cribsiders (a pediatric medicine podcast) and the treasurer for Black Girl White Coat (mentorship organization for Black and Hispanic women).

Priya Shankar, MD, MPH

Dr. Shankar is a physician with a passion for gender justice, intersectional feminism, reproductive and mental health, and health equity. She is a graduate of the UCSF Pediatric Leaders for the Underserved Residency Program and also is the co-founder (alongside her late husband, Ricky Sharma) of the award-winning organization called Adolescent Health Champions which fights gender bias by training youth globally as gender and health peer educators. She was a former Fulbright-Nehru Scholar to India from 2009 to 2010 and a Fogarty-NIH fellow from 2020 to 2022 where she focused on global adolescent health. She later served as an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland's Federally Qualified Health Center in teen, school-based health, and primary care and was a faculty member with the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.

 Dr. Shankar is delighted to join JHU Adolescent medicine fellowship to delve deeper into adolescent clinical care, policy, and research. She will  continue to expand and evaluate Adolescent Health Champions in honor of her late husband and to support adolescents globally. Additionally, while in fellowship, she plans to undertake research related to partner loss, gender related stigma and discrimination, and post-traumatic growth, resilience, and thriving. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her family and daughter, to dance every day, and she is currently receiving training in art therapy.