Dr. Carol Agomo believes meaningful change happens when institutions and communities work together with shared purpose.

Dr. Agomo currently serve as Vice President of Community Engagement at United Way of Central Alabama, where she leads strategies that connect community partners, communications, and engagement efforts to strengthen impact across the region. Her work focuses on building relationships, amplifying community voices, and mobilizing organizations and individuals to address challenges and expand opportunity. Throughout her career, she has worked at the intersection of community partnership, strategic communications, and program leadership, helping organizations translate mission into meaningful action. She brings experience designing large-scale engagement initiatives, leading high-visibility campaigns and events, and aligning internal teams around clear and consistent messaging.

Prior to joining United Way, Dr. Agomo served in leadership roles at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Heersink School of Medicine and The University of Alabama, where she led statewide community engagement strategies, developed partnership-driven initiatives, and supported communications that elevated the work of community organizations and academic collaborators.

Her professional background reflects a multidisciplinary approach to leadership. She holds a PhD in Health Education and Promotion, as well as an MPH and MBA, which together shape her approach to strategy, stakeholder engagement, and organizational impact.

Dr. Agomo is also the founder of Connected Futures Consulting, where she supports communities, organizations and partners in moving from vision to action through strategic planning, program development, community engagement strategy and communications support. This work reflects her broader commitment to helping organizations build stronger connections, clarify their impact and create practical pathways for meaningful change.

Across each role, her work has centered on one goal, and that is bringing people together to strengthen communities and expand opportunity for those they serve.

Dr. Agomo will present the keynote presentation, "At the Boundaries: Forging Connections That Make Better Health Possible" on Thursday, September 24 at 10:00 AM.

Synopsis: Better health depends on the connections we make. Medical librarians help make those connections possible, often in ways that reach far beyond the library. Drawing on my experience in community engagement and health research, I will explore the role of “boundary spanners”: people who work across disciplines, institutions and communities to build trust, create shared understanding and help knowledge inform action. The keynote will invite attendees to recognize that role in their own work, reconnect with the people and purposes their expertise serves, and consider the connections they can forge to support better research, informed care and healthier communities.