About Allysa Dittmar

Allysa Dittmar (she, hers) is a deaf public health professional specializing in healthcare accessibility and public policy initiatives. Allysa brings over 15 years of experience in advancing systemic healthcare equity across the public and private sectors, having served in leadership roles at the Maryland Governor’s Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Maryland Department of Health, Gallaudet University, and Johns Hopkins University. Driven by her own experience as a patient, she co-founded and directed a $45M+ patient advocacy organization to develop the first FDA-cleared and CE-marked transparent surgical mask, an innovation that earned her a place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2021. Currently, she leads efforts at DeafHealth to prioritize equitable, culturally responsive healthcare and serves as the PI for a Patient-Centered Outcomes and Research Institute (PCORI) award focused on capacity building and virtual healthcare accessibility. She earned her master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on deaf health disparities and health communication. Outside of her advocacy work, she cheers for the Philadelphia Eagles from her home near Columbia, Maryland.