Adia “Ja’Nea” James is a rising second-year medical student and a PRIME LEAD-ABC Scholar at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. She was born and raised in Sweet Home Alabama, where her grandmother, a retired nurse, played a significant role in her upbringing and passion for community-based healthcare. 

Ja’Nea graduated from Pomona College with a B.A. in Gender and Women’s Studies on the pre-medical track. After college, she dedicated two years to Black Women for Wellness as the lead program coordinator for the Sisters in Motion Program. 

Ja’Nea also collaborates with the Voices for Choices and Rights Coalition, a reproductive and abortion rights organization based in Windhoek, Namibia. Her research interests include Black women’s health, gender dynamics in the Black community, and Black healing traditions and rituals. Outside of her studies and advocacy work, Ja’Nea loves to read, bike, kayak, longboard, skate, crochet, and FaceTime her baby cousins down South.