Dr. Bisola Ojikutu

Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, MD, MPH, is a nationally recognized physician leader, health equity researcher, and expert in infectious disease prevention, care, and treatment. Since July 2021, she has served as Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission and Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston. In this role, she oversees a $250 million budget and leads over 1,300 employees across six bureaus and more than 40 programs. A key public health advisor to Boston’s Mayor, Dr. Ojikutu is committed to advancing health equity, addressing racism as a public health crisis, and building cross-sector partnerships to improve the well-being of all Boston residents.

Dr. Ojikutu holds faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts General Hospital, and is an adjunct faculty member at The Fenway Institute. Her research has focused on expanding access to care for marginalized populations and has been supported by major funders including the NIH, PCORI, and HRSA. She previously served as Director of the Community Engaged Research Program and Associate Director of the Bio-Behavioral and Community Science Core at the Harvard Center for AIDS Research. A widely published scholar, Dr. Ojikutu is an Associate Editor for the American Journal of Public Health and co-editor of two textbooks on HIV in communities of color. In 2022, she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine.

Internationally, Dr. Ojikutu has led large-scale efforts to improve HIV care in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, serving as Senior Advisor at John Snow Inc. and former Director of the Office of International Programs at Harvard Medical School. She earned her MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, completed her residency at New York Presbyterian–Cornell, and her infectious disease fellowship at Massachusetts General/Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Minority Health Policy, she also holds an MPH from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Ojikutu is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America.