At-Large
Term: 01/04/2022 – 12/31/2025
803-216-1948
[email protected]
- Administrative Policy Committee Member
- Economic Development & Infrastructure Committee Member
- Health, Social & Environmental Affairs Committee Chair
Dr. Aditi Bussells
Councilwoman Aditi Bussells
Dr. Aditi Bussells is a seasoned management consultant with over a decade of experience across policy, non-profit, and industry settings. Her key expertise lies in helping clients improve their organizations, from updating their organizational structures to enhancing team effectiveness. She leverages her deep understanding of strategic communications, branding, messaging, capacity building, and coaching to drive transformative change in the organizations she works with.
Born to immigrant parents from India, she learned from an early age the value of hard work and the necessity of equal access to opportunities, regardless of one’s background. Her family’s experiences with discrimination during 9/11 fueled her passion for public health and inspired her to work towards creating more equitable and inclusive societies. Today, she draws on these experiences and values in her work as a management consultant, striving to improve health organizations and champion health equity at every opportunity.
Dr. Bussells is recognized as an expert in child health. She focuses on critical areas such as risk behavior prevention, health equity, and early childhood experiences, including adverse childhood experiences.
She made history in 2021 when she was elected to the Columbia City Council, becoming the top-vote getter and the first South Asian American woman to hold the position.
Dr. Bussells chaired the Taskforce to Prevent and End Homelessness, where she spearheaded significant efforts to address one of the city’s most pressing issues. Under her leadership, Rapid Shelter Columbia was launched, reflecting her dedication to providing immediate solutions to pressing community problems.
Currently, she serves as the Chair of the Health, Social, and Environmental Affairs Committee, and is a member of the Administrative and Economic Development Committee. Dr. Bussells is governor-appointed to serve as the vice chair of the South Carolina Opioid Recovery Fund Board, tasked with awarding over $360 million coming to South Carolina over the next 18 years from opioid settlements. She also serves as the city liaison to Edventure Children’s Museum and Columbia Museum of Art.
Dr. Bussells received her Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina as a Doris Duke Foundation Fellow. She holds a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in American government from the University of Virginia. A rising star in the community, Dr. Bussells was awarded the Columbia Business Monthly’s 30 under 35 Best and Brightest, The State Newspaper’s Top 20 Under 40 and the Hon. Jim Clyburn’s Emerging Leader in Health Equity Research Award for her work.
Dr. Bussells lives in the Historic Earlewood Neighborhood with two dogs and her husband Louis, a Nurse Practitioner and Army veteran. They recently welcomed their baby boy, Bodhi.