Ifeyinwa Ojukwu ’22 Aims to Make a
Difference in Vulnerable Populations
Honors junior, Ifeyinwa “Ify” Ojukwu, has set her sights on becoming a physician and on addressing systemic, race-related disparities through health care policies. A biology and psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a public health minor in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics— Ojukwu, who was always interested in medicine and underserved communities, really became invested in the topic when she took the course Health Disparities and Underserved Populations.
“I feel like my interest lies in recognizing vulnerabilities in others and wanting to support them,… medicine is just one way to go about that, but it’s an important way, and one that resonates with my personal and scientific interests, too. “
This spring, at the Office of Diversity and Inclusion’s Racial Equity Symposium, she presented her breast cancer research as a case study highlighting radicalized clinical tools, including the BCRAT—the first time she had ever given a talk outside of a classroom setting. In April she represented Syracuse University at the virtual ACC Meeting of the Minds conference, hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she gave a presentation on her PKAN research. “Each of these opportunities has really allowed me to step into the next dimension of what my career, what my advocacy, might look like,” she says.
As she wraps up her junior year, she feels grateful for the opportunities provided to her at Syracuse University. “All of this has made me more excited for what the future might hold, because I’m honing those skills in a way that will make me better poised to effect the change I want to make over the course of my career.”
Read more about Ify’s experiences in SU Stories.
