Speaking Engagement Request

Looking for someone to speak at your upcoming conference, luncheon, or meeting? Roots’ executive team has expertise in a variety of fields and would be happy to present to your group about our programming and whole health model. Please fill out the form below to request a team member to speak at your event.

Dr. Noha Aboelata, CEO

Dr. Noha Aboelata’s professional career as an executive-team leader, public advocate, and healthcare provider, is defined by her unwavering commitment to increasing access to health care for the residents of underserved communities in with a focus on her home town of Oakland. After receiving her MD from Howard University where she was honored as a Trustee Scholar, she completed her residency in Family Medicine at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center, serving as Chief Resident, and went on to serve as a National Health Service Corps Fellow. One of Dr. Aboelata’s early initiatives was to apply for and obtain the official Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designation of the East Oakland communities of Fruitvale, Fremont, Eastmont, and Melrose (2000); and Ashland, Brookfield Village, Castro Valley South, Elmhurst, Hayward Northeast, San Leandro North Central, and San Lorenzo East (2001), updating this designation with new data in 2017.  This designation paves the way for increasing primary care services in these communities through several mechanisms, including eligibility for state and federal loan repayment programs. Dr. Aboelata founded Roots in 2008 while working as Consultant Chief Medical Officer for the Native American Health Center in Oakland, CA. She has received many honors for her dedication to improving the health of East Bay residents, including the  Health Champion Award from Assemblymember Rob Bonta and the Los Angeles Hidden Figures Award from the National Action Network, Los Angeles. Dr. Aboelata was also recently honored as a finalist for the prestigious Opus Prize.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Roots’ Whole Health model
  • All Roots programming
  • Social enterprise
  • Health disparities
  • Inquire about other topics!

Aquil Naji, COO

Aquil Naji is co-founder and COO of Roots. Mr. Naji is an experienced businessman, a compelling and inspirational leader, and passionate community advocate dedicated to empowering marginalized people and eliminating health disparities in East Oakland and surrounding communities. As COO of Roots, Mr. Naji is responsible for the maintenance and flow of clinic operations, including staffing of the administrative personnel at all locations. Before founding Roots, Mr. Naji operated a successful bail bonds franchise with three locations in the East Bay and employed twenty-two bondsmen.  During the five years in which Mr. Naji operated his franchise, he not only acquired the specific management and organizational skills required for this profession, he also recognized the racial disparities in the criminal justice system and began advocating for his clients within his capacity as a bail bondsman. As co-founder and COO of Roots Community Health Center, Mr. Naji’s talents as an operations manager and devotion to understanding and passionately advocating for the needs of African American men eventually manifested in 2013 in the Roots Emancipators Initiative (Emancipators), a workforce program for men reentering society after incarceration. As Program Director, Mr. Naji designed Emancipators to incorporate on-the-job training with curriculum that provides rudimentary education in basic chemistry and math, weights and measurements, metric conversion, manufacturing industry standards, and quality control. Importantly, Mr. Naji’s program also utilizes innovative methodology to address the many barriers to long-term stability many reentry individual face, such as psycho-social factors as well as arrears child support, DMV and IRS issues, outstanding warrants, and restitution. Mr. Naji’s remarkable ability to motivate, inspire, and mentor those with whom he works contributes to a program that improves the quality of its participants’ lives by helping them to cultivate their individual strengths and navigate the world with a sense of empowerment, self-respect, and pride.

Areas of Expertise:

  • Social enterprise
  • Roots Emancipators Initiative
  • Inquire about other topics!