
Aalap Ooha Bommaraju, MPH
Aalap Ooha Bommaraju (they/them) is the WESearch Lead at the Chicago Abortion Fund (CAF) and a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Cincinnati (UC). Aalap Ooha wants to shape changes in how reproduction gets done in the United States. In practice, their work at CAF supports Midwesterners' access to abortion care. In academia, they examine how inequalities in access to reproductive care are rationalized and legitimized within healthcare organizations. As the WESearch Lead, Aalap Ooha works on a variety of projects, and conceived of and led the Shaping Change Study, the first of its kind at an independent abortion fund in the United States. Aalap Ooha’s recent work also includes a massive upgrade of CAF’s database, which has allowed CAF staff and volunteers to streamline their case management processes and have access to real-time data, enabling CAF to make data-driven decisions to improve services. Aalap's care for CAF grantees and their deep understanding of systemic inequities in healthcare access, combined with their vision for how to combat inequity, have been essential to these efforts.