Aravia Patterson was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, where her family resides except for her younger sister. She is the eldest of 5 children aged 23-6. She graduated salutatorian from Eau Claire High School in 2014. Aravia graduated from Bennett College with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in Africana Women’s Studies. After participating in a CDC summer Public Health Program at the University of Michigan (FPHLP), Aravia was selected as a Maternal and Child Health fellow in Drexel University’s Global Health Immersion program.
Along with faculty, staff, and other fellows, she traveled to Senegal and The Republic of Gambia to survey and participate in their public health practices. She then went on to earn her Master of Public degree from the Morehouse School of Medicine on May 15, 2021. Her research project focused on doulas and maternal mortality among low-income African American women. During the summer of 2021, she completed an internship through the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs at the Kentucky Department of Public Health, Maternal, and Child Health Division. Currently, Aravia is pursuing her doctoral studies (Ph.D.) in Public Health Sciences and Information with a Specialization in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky.
Quote I live by:
1. “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde
2. “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” -Audre Lorde
Social Media handle: IG: araviapatterson
