Sonia S. Hassan, M.D.
Founder and Director

Associate Vice-President, Office of Women’s Health,
Wayne State University Professor,
Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Wayne State University

Sonia S. Hassan, M.D. is associate vice-president at Wayne State University (WSU), a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the founder and director of the Office of Women’s Health at WSU. Dr. Hassan’s research has focused on treatments and programs to reduce preterm birth, the leading cause of infant mortality. Dr. Hassan is the lead investigator of the SOS MATERNITY Network (The Synergy of Scholars in Maternal and Infant Health Equity), a research alliance of Maternal-Fetal Medicine physicians across the State of Michigan. Dr. Hassan is also co-chair of Michigan’s Maternal Infant Health and Equity Collaborative. Dr. Hassan has authored or co-authored over 400 publications and was the lead author of a landmark international trial which demonstrated an intervention that decreases preterm birth by 45%. Dr. Hassan was an NIH funded researcher for 17 years and previously served as the project site manager for the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health on behalf of WSU. Dr. Hassan was named the Crain’s 13th Annual Health Care Heroes Awardee and a Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News. She received the March of Dimes Michigan Prematurity Prevention Hero Award and was the honoree of the Michigan March of Dimes for 2018. In 2019 she was the recipient of the Rogerio A. Lobo Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation. In 2022 she received the Service Award & Samaritas Ambassador Award for her work as the First Lady of the City of Detroit, and co-founder of the Detroit Refugee Network in partnership with Samaritas. She obtained her medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine and her MBA at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Dr. Hassan is a Fellow of the third class of the Aspen Institute's Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.