Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Presented by the DLSPH Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office…

You are invited to the Dalla Lana School of Public Health’s annual recognition ceremony honouring Black leaders in the field of public health and health systems. We will be celebrating outstanding individuals whose leadership, advocacy and impact continue to advance health equity and strengthen communities.

This celebration highlights exceptional achievements while inspiring the next generation of Black leaders in health. It reflects an ongoing commitment to recognizing and uplifting Black excellence in public health.

Schedule of Events

6:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Reception begins and appetizers are served

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Recognition ceremony

7:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Reception continues with refreshments

This year we have the pleasure of honouring the following 2026 Award Recipients:

Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh

Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh is the Executive Director of the Black Health Education Collaborative and an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Public Health Division at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She is a catalytic leader who mobilizes knowledge and activates networks to advance policy and practice on racism, social and economic issues that impact health and wellbeing.

She spent a decade with the National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health, where she provided leadership to public health practice on health equity, the social determinants of health including racism, in partnership with institutions across Canada. She has served in an advisory capacity for working groups and committees led by numerous national health organizations including the Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Institutes for Health Information and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and is a former board member of the Black Health Alliance and the Canadian Public Health Association.

Sume provides strategic consultations to organizations as Principal of Another World Lab. She recently contributed two chapters on racism and the future of health promotion in Health Promotion in Canada, Towards a Well-Being Society in an Accelerating World (5th edition). She holds a Master of Health Sciences in Health Promotion and Global Health from the University of Toronto. Hailing from Cameroon, she is grateful to live, work and play on Turtle Island and is committed to working towards decolonial futures. 

Donatus Mutasingwa

Dr. Donatus (Don) Mutasingwa, MD, MPhil, PhD, is a family physician and Academic Chief at the Markham Family Medicine Teaching Unit and the Department of Family Medicine at Oak Valley Health. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Originally from Tanzania, Dr. Mutasingwa earned his MD from the University of Dar es Salaam (now MUHAS), a master’s degree in Health Promotion from the University of Bergen in Norway, and a PhD from the University of Calgary. He completed his Family Medicine residency at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Mutasingwa is recognized for advancing health equity through clinical innovation, education and health system transformation. He led the expansion of the Health for All Family Health Team, improving access to primary care for underserved populations across Markham, and was part of the co-creation team for the Eastern York and North Durham Ontario Health Team. With over 15 years in practice, he has contributed to the training of more than 80 family physicians now practicing across Canada. More recently, he played a leadership role in the expansion of the Family Medicine Teaching Unit to Uxbridge.

His academic and global health work focuses on strengthening primary care systems in low- and middle-income settings. Internationally, he has been actively involved in developing Tanzania’s first publicly funded Family Medicine residency program; his work was recently recognized with a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship. 

Keddone Dias

Keddone Dias is the Executive Director of LAMP Community Health Centre where she leads a multidisciplinary team delivering integrated primary health care and health promotion programs that support the needs of the whole person. With over 20 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector, her work has focused on advancing health equity, strengthening community-based systems of care and improving access to services for equity-deserving populations across Etobicoke and Peel.

She currently serves on the boards of Women’s Habitat of Etobicoke and Management Advisory Services. Her leadership is grounded in collaboration, accountability and a commitment to building healthier communities. She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her two school-aged children who always keep her on her toes. 

Sanjana Jones

Sanjana Jones is in her second year of her Master of Public Health in the Black Health field, with a collaborative specialization in Women’s Health. She is passionate about advocating for equitable standards in healthcare among communities that have been marginalized and bridging the gap in care that racialized people experience. Specifically, decreasing the injustices and disparities that women of colour experience in maternal and reproductive care environments.

Through emphasizing the importance of the structural and social determinants of health, she passionately chips away at healthcare provider bias and removing barriers to accessing care. She currently works with Women’s College Hospital on a toolkit for the Breast & Cervical Cancer Screening Event for Black Women that will provide widespread preventative cancer care. She also enjoys indulging in her hobbies of crocheting and knitting. In the future, Sanjana hopes to be a gynecologist, equalizing life expectancy during labour at the patient-level.

As space is limited and the event is expected to sell out, we encourage you to register early.

Please note photographs and/or videos taken at this event may be shared on the University of Toronto and/or Dalla Lana School of Public Health websites and social media channels. Select images may also be used in print or digital materials for educational, promotional, and other official purposes. If you prefer not to have your image published, please notify us in advance by emailing edio.dlsph@utoronto.ca, or inform a staff member during the event.