Dianne Uwayo

Dianne Uwayo serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator for Deeply Rooted, a program of the Penn Medicine Center for Health Justice. She coordinates community engagement and outreach efforts across eight neighborhoods in West and Southwest Philadelphia , working alongside community members to co-design and activate mini-parks, plant trees, and promote the healing power of nature. Dianne also leads Leadership in Nature (LeadIN), a youth program for area high school students.  

Before joining the Deeply Rooted team, Dianne was the health and social services programs manager at the African Family Health Organization, a post-resettlement agency serving African and Caribbean immigrants and refugees. Prior to that, Dianne spent five years dedicated to intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention, research, and dialogue in the United States and East Africa. In 2016 she was awarded a Fulbright grant to Tanzania to continue her qualitative research on community perceptions of IPV. Her work in Kenya and Rwanda was also rooted in violence prevention and improving women’s health.  

Dianne received her MPH at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  and her BA in sociology and African studies at Wake Forest University.