Sunita Dodani

Sunita (Soni) Dodani is a Pakistani-born American physician–epidemiologist and professor of clinical medicine whose work centers on cardiovascular disease prevention, health equity, and community-based interventions.^[1] She is the founding director of the Center 4 Health Research at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria and previously founded the Eastern Virginia Medical School–Sentara Healthcare Analytics and Delivery Science Institute.^[2] Her research includes faith and community-based programs such as Fit Body and Soul and the HEALS and HEALS Med-Tech initiatives aimed at improving cardio metabolic outcomes in underserved populations.^[3][4]

Dodani was born and raised in Pakistan and contracted poliomyelitis at the age of two, an experience she has described as formative in her decision to enter medicine and public health.^[5] She earned a medical degree from Aga Khan University in Karachi, completed a family medicine residency with training in cardiology, obtained a master’s degree in epidemiology and community health at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and completed a PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh.^[5] Her graduate and doctoral studies received support that included Fulbright scholarships.^[2] During her doctoral training she also produced a dissertation on building research capacity in Pakistan.^[6]

After clinical and research roles in the United States, including work in cardiology at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Dodani joined the University of Florida College of Medicine-Jacksonville as a cardiovascular epidemiologist and associate professor in 2012.^[7][8] She later moved to Eastern Virginia Medical School as professor of medicine and founded the EVMS–Sentara Healthcare Analytics and Delivery Science Institute to design and evaluate data-driven approaches for improving care and outcomes.^[5][9] During the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized the Health Equity Collaborative of Virginia, coordinating multi-institution research and outreach on disparities in health and mental health.^[10][11] She subsequently joined the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria as founding director of the Center 4 Health Research and professor of clinical medicine.^[2]

Dodani’s scholarship has emphasized culturally tailored, community-embedded strategies to prevent diabetes and control hypertension, particularly within African American church communities.^[3] Early studies described and tested Fit Body and Soul, a 12-session, lay-led lifestyle intervention adapted from evidence-based curricula for diabetes prevention.^[3][12] She subsequently developed HEALS, a faith-based hypertension control and prevention program delivered by trained church members, reporting feasibility and improvements in blood pressure and self-management behaviors.^[4][13] Building on this work, the HEALS Med-Tech randomized trial integrated telehealth and behavioral counseling and reported reductions in systolic blood pressure at three and twelve months among African American participants.^[14] Beyond church-based programs, her research has examined cardiometabolic risk among South Asian immigrants in the United States, highlighting elevated burdens of diabetes and probable coronary disease.^[7]

In digital health, Dodani has led and collaborated on remote data collection and mental health initiatives, including the multi-institution COVIDsmart project and feasibility work on digital cognitive behavioral therapy platforms during the pandemic.^[11] Her group has studied predictors of interest and engagement with such digital mental-health tools in diverse populations.^[15] Elements of Dodani’s public-health writing, notably a co-authored analysis of “brain drain,” have been used and discussed in Arabic-language Egyptian academic literature, reflecting regional diffusion and policy relevance of her work.^[16][17]

At EVMS, institutional records list multiple honors for Dodani, including recognition as a finalist for the American Heart Association’s Mark Bieber Award and community service awards from the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks and the National Forum for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.^[18] The National Forum’s annual meeting materials document her citation at its 2018 meeting.^[19] She has been elected a Fellow of the American Heart Association in recognition of contributions to cardiovascular science and prevention.^[20] Earlier in her academic training she received university honors at the University of Pittsburgh, consistent with a career integrating clinical medicine, epidemiology, and implementation science.^[18]