Meet Adesoye Taiwo, ELLA Fellow
We sat with ELLA fellow Adesoye Taiwo, to talk more about her ELLA project and experience at Sadie Nash.
Adesoye Taiwo (she/her)
is a researcher and health equity advocate who focuses on making medical tools more accurate and fair for everyone, especially people of color. Her work includes fixing problems with devices like the pulse oximeter, which haven’t worked well for darker skin tones, and pushing for changes in healthcare policies. She uses research, innovation, and community input to help create a healthcare system where everyone gets the same quality of care.
She developed The Waiting Room: Stories in Black Health an art exhibit curated at highlighting the real experiences of Black people and women in healthcare settings through a creative and visual experience.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
My name is Adesoye and I'm born and raised in New Jersey. My parents are immigrants from Nigeria, which has given me a really strong sense of self. I also describe myself as very passionate. I’ve never really had any experiences in my life where I don't know what to do, or I don't know what to do next. I also love combining different things together. I’m a true interdisciplinary thinker. A great example of that is my ELLA project. It’s an exhibit of my own original artwork but it touches on a social issue, and incorporates technology. So you have arts, community, politics, and science all together– and I’ve always loved that. Also my favorite color is Blue!
The Doctor, Oil Paint on Canvas, Adesoye Taiwo 18 X 24’’
“This piece was inspired by the underrepresentation of Black professionals in medical imagery and the broader depression of Black identity within healthcare settings. The Doctor was created to create visibility and normalize complete Black presence in positions of medical authority and care. Through this portrait, I aim to challenge conventional expectations, affirm identity, and offer a more inclusive vision of who belongs in medicine and more importantly in this context, how they show up.” - Adesoye Taiwo
What made you apply to the ELLA Fellowship?
The second I heard about the fellowship, I knew I had to do it! I wish I could show everyone that on my wall right now, I have a post-it that says “Get into ELLA 2024-2025” as one of my goals for the last year, and I’m so glad I was able to accomplish that.
I actually was a part of Siblinghood Academy in 2022, so I was already involved with Sadie Nash programming. Siblinghood really opened my eyes to the Sadie Nash community. So when I saw the application for ELLA, I was really excited because it’s an organization I was familiar with and wanted to return to. The way the fellowship was framed, it was the perfect opportunity for my project. I wasn’t going to be assigned anything, I was making something. Autonomy is really important to me, and for me this was really a perfect balance of guidance, community, financial support, and the autonomy that I was looking for. And most importantly, it was an opportunity to showcase what I know and what I’m passionate about.
“People can’t be their best selves if they’re not even healthy.”
What’s one moment from the ELLA Fellowship that was meaningful or transformative for you?
The most meaningful experience was attending the first two or three ELLA retreats and hearing from my fellow peers about their projects. I realized that a lot of us were doing healthcare centered projects and it was so cool to see that! There are a lot of new exciting projects people are working on, but sometimes we forget the foundations, one of them being healthcare. I loved seeing that synergy. People can’t be their best selves if they’re not even healthy, and seeing how much overlap there was in our interests, really inspired me to stick with my topic. And the health care related topics we were doing were so different! We had everything from Covid safety, to holistic medicinal practices, cancer screening, and mental health chat bots! It was so cool to see the range of ideas and that made me feel more comfortable in my approach, by focusing on black women’s experiences with healthcare.
“ELLA really showed me that leadership is actually collaborative, and no one can do anything without community.”
How has your understanding of leadership grown or shifted during your time with Sadie Nash?
My view of leadership before Sadie Nash was really a vision of one person in charge who is the sole provider and is doing everything on their own. But ELLA really showed me that leadership is actually collaborative, and no one can do anything without community.
Even people who are referred to as “self-made” aren’t! Their mothers made them! It really takes a whole community to create even one prominent person. So, the ability to work with people, collaborate, and bounce ideas off each other while still spearheading my own project was so valuable during ELLA. It reminded me that I don’t have to do it alone. I don’t have to be alone in a dark room working on things. I can be out in the light, conversing and sharing my ideas.
How would you describe Sadie Nash to someone who’s never heard of it?
Sadie Nash is a powerhouse. It’s both a think tank and community space for social justice, leadership, and training. It’s an opportunity. When I was in Siblinghood, there were resources for us to take our SATs and we went on college trips. In ELLA there was space and resources to develop my own ideas and projects. There is ongoing partnership, and Sadie Nash is still championing me. It’s truly a hub for growing leadership potential and personal growth. I didn’t know how much power I had in me until starting Siblinghood Academy at Sadie Nash.
“Although pulse oximeters are widely adopted as universal medical tools and claim to provide consistent results for everyone, studies have shown significant inaccuracies—especially for Black and darker-skinned patients—leading to disparities in care and outcomes.”
What’s next for you, and how will you carry your ELLA experience forward?
I’m really looking forward to the opening of “The Waiting Room: Stories in Black Health” which was the project I developed during my ELLA fellowship. The event takes place on July 19th and July 26th from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm at the People’s Forum and it’s FREE TO ATTEND. I’m hoping to see the SNLP community there!
In terms of what’s next, I’m working on the development of a pulse oximeter designed to deliver truly equitable and accurate readings for all people, addressing critical flaws present in current devices. Although pulse oximeters are widely adopted as universal medical tools and claim to provide consistent results for everyone, studies have shown significant inaccuracies—especially for Black and darker-skinned patients—leading to disparities in care and outcomes.
After completing the design and securing a patent for this innovative device, my goal is to challenge existing standards by working with the FDA to revise the regulatory requirements for pulse oximeters. This will ensure that future medical devices are held to rigorous equity standards, ultimately improving health outcomes and reducing systemic bias in healthcare. At The Waiting Room, I will also be fundraising for my research efforts. If you aren’t able to attend the event, please consider making a donation to support my research.
ATTEND THE EVENT
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ATTEND THE EVENT 〰️
The Waiting Room: Stories in Black Health is a multimedia art exhibit and community gathering that explores the deeply personal and often painful realities of navigating healthcare as a Black person in America. Hosted and curated by health equity advocate Adesoye Taiwo and sponsored by Sadie Nash Leadership Project, this event invites visitors into the symbolic space of the "waiting room"—a place of delay, dismissal, resilience, and radical reimagining.
Through embroidered works, medically inspired paintings, and visual storytelling, the exhibit centers real-life experiences of medical neglect, maternal mortality, misdiagnosis, and erasure in clinical research, while also uplifting stories of care, advocacy, and healing. The event will also feature guest speakers, health-centered goody bags, an opportunity to learn more about a new, equitable pulse oximeter project, and resources on how to advocate for yourself and others in medical spaces.
Dates and Times:
Friday, July 19 and Friday, July 26
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The People's Forum, 320 W 37th St, New York, NY
Admission: Free and open to the public purchased ticket option available. All proceedings will go to the development of the pulse oximetry project