Rolanda McDonald-Johnson, MD

Co-Chair

Dr. Rolanda McDonald-Johnson, affectionately known as Dr. MJ, was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she attended Philadelphia High School for Girls. She went on to obtain her BA in Biology from the University of Virginia. She received Doctor of Medicine degree from The Penn State College of Medicine. She specialized in Pediatrics and completed her Pediatric Residency at the Medical College of Virginia. After practicing with a group for several years, she started Commonwealth Pediatrics, in Colonial Heights, VA. She was owner, president, and primary practitioner for seven years
serving the community not only by providing health care, but also by being active community health educator.

After practicing pediatrics for 15 years and relocating to Philadelphia for her husband’s job, she decided to take a break from practicing to spend more time with her kids and other family members. During this time, she realized that although she enjoyed being a practicing pediatrician, she felt her heart was being pulled in a different direction. She became very passionate about addressing the health inequities and disparities she witnessed while practicing, particularly in underserved communities. As a result, she went on to obtain her Master of Public Health Degree in Program Planning and Implementation from the George Washington University Milken School of Public Health in 2021.

Since then, she has been active in the Philadelphia community providing COVID and vaccine education, guest lecturing about Health Promotion, and participating in COVID vaccine clinics in schools in Philadelphia. Currently, she is the Program Director for Twin Sister Docs, Foundation. The TSD Foundation is a Philadelphia based health advocacy organization whose mission is to reduce health disparities by providing health education and health programs to vulnerable communities with the goal of improving health outcomes. Improving overall well-being for individuals through health education, addressing the social determinants of health, and empowering individuals to advocate for their own health is the goal Dr.MJ aspires to achieve.

Therefore, Dr. MJ is extremely excited to be a Co-Chairperson of the Parker-Jenick Foundation to help support their mission of improving housing security for those in need in Pennsylvania and North Carolina communities. She plans to bring her knowledge of medicine and public health programming to help develop strategies regarding needs assessment, fundraising, partner collaboration, and grant distribution to achieve the goals of the Parker-Jenick Foundation.