Twlla Dillion

Dr. Twylla Dillion is an internationally recognized maternal health leader advancing birth equity across the U.S., Caribbean, and West Africa. As president and CEO of HealthConnect One, Dr. Dillion leads community-based doula care models in 35 states and over 100 communities nationwide, centering Black, Brown, and Indigenous families and addressing the structural drivers of maternal and infant health disparities.

Her work bridges research, policy, and practice. Domestically, Dr. Dillion champions the importance of organizing community-based birth workers into a unified national network and scales DoulaREADI®, a hospital accreditation program advancing Medicaid reimbursement.

Internationally, she has expanded this work, supporting the Uzuri Birth doula training initiative in Ghana and building emerging partnerships across the Caribbean, including in Puerto Rico.

Dr. Dillion also leads Doulas Are for Every Body™, a national awareness campaign lifting up the value of community-based doulas everywhere.

An Aspen Institute fellow, Dr. Dillion is driven by a singular mission: to sustain community-based birth support and educate the public on why this work is vital to the long-term wellbeing of families, ensuring every mother and baby not only survives, but thrives.

OBOS's legacy of putting truth about our bodies directly into our own hands mirrors the work of community birth workers who have carried that same knowledge forward for generations. I am honored to walk alongside this movement because it affirms what we have always known: our communities, guided by our own trusted birth workers, are how we ensure every birthing family and baby not only survives, but thrives.