Onyekachukwu F. I. Okeke is a Public Health Medical Microbiologist with a solid academic background in the Medical Sciences and other important related fields of knowledge (public health, medical microbiology, medical laboratory sciences, public administration-health planning and management, education, agriculture and rural innovation, transport and logistics) that is unique. She holds a doctorate degree (PhD) in medical microbiology from the University of Jos, Nigeria, and is also a medical laboratory scientist/Consultant specialist/fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Medical Laboratory Science (FWAPCMLS). This is in addition to other organizational skills, functional competencies, relevant trainings, and capacity development endeavours. Her country experience and expertise include East Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa, Europe and USA; and in her home country of Nigeria, her career and public service experience spans twenty two years and still counting.
Dr Onyekachukwu has an interdisciplinary understanding and approach to the provision of technical support and has developed leadership, facilitation, coaching, and mentoring skills in multicultural and diverse professional settings. Thus, she has what it takes to help in facilitating partnership building with and among governments, development partners and other stakeholders with the ultimate goal of achieving continued strengthening of Nigeria’s various systems even beyond the health sector where she currently works.
She has to her credit, 8 scientific publications; 30 accepted abstracts; 8 other unpublished works; and has also participated in over 53 conferences/workshops/trainings both locally and internationally. Also to her credit are 34 badges, 29 of which were awarded by the University of Central Florida (UCF), USA. During the period of complete lockdown, she served as a frontline Covid -19 health worker (case investigation and community testing) for the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja, FCT, Nigeria) Covid – 19 Pandemic Response (April and May, 2020) and was a member of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) FCT Emergency Response Committee on Covid – 19 containment. She also chaired the AMLSN FCT sub-committee on Grants, Research and Publications during that period and was the Principal Investigator for the research study titled: COVID – 19 Containment Preparedness: A Baseline Assessment of Health Facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria. Especially in the wake of the Covid – 19 pandemic, she has taken a very keen interest in the concept of global health which has culminated in online certificate courses from the Department of Global Health E-Learning Program, University of Washington, USA (8); from the ISGlobal Barcelona Institute of Global Health’s International Summer School on Advanced Methods in Global Health (3), and the International Spring School in Global Health (2), both in Barcelona, Spain; and also from the McGill Summer Institute in Infectious Diseases and Global Health (3). She has also successfully completed an online course in Science Diplomacy and Innovation Diplomacy from the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil and is a proud alumnus of the AAAS-TWAS Science Diplomacy programme.
In addition to other professional affiliations, Dr Onyekachukwu is a Fellow of the Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria (FMLSCN); member of the Equitable Research Alliance Group (with a Gender-Specific component) as set up by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology of which she is also a Gender Champion; member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSDW); Global Virus Network (GVN), USA; American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP); Biotechnology Society of Nigeria (BSN); Nigerian Biosafety Association (NiBSA); Mycotoxicology Society of Nigeria (MSN); Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN); and Fellow of the Institute of Safety Professionals of Nigeria (ISPON).