It all started in a vaccine lab halfway across the world. As a microbiology student at University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Chukwudi (Chuks) Ubah, DrPH, MPH, landed a four-month internship at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), where he worked in a vaccine lab conducting potency, efficacy, and safety tests. The experience was eye-opening, and it set the course for everything that came after—including his 5,000+ mile journey to the United States.
“Seeing the debilitating loopholes in the public health and healthcare systems in developing countries like Nigeria made me realize that to provide a better future for my country and the world at large, I needed to be academically equipped,” Dr. Ubah said. He later completed a yearlong regulatory fellowship at NAFDAC’s Port Inspection Directorate and gained additional hands-on experience during Nigeria’s Ebola outbreak. He applied to four U.S. graduate programs and chose Temple University for his Master of Public Health (MPH ’18).
The transition to a new school in a new country wasn’t without its challenges. “At one point, I considered dropping out,” Dr. Ubah admitted. But a strong support system kept him on track. “Temple helped me build resilience—the ‘never give up’ spirit,” he said. He also took on roles as an International Resident Coordinator and Ambassador, helping new students from across the world feel at home.
Financial support also played a critical role, particularly as the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and Nigerian naira worsened. “If not for the VPGS [tuition scholarship] awards—I’m a three-time recipient—I’m not sure I would have graduated.”
Today, Dr. Ubah works at both East Carolina University’s School of Dental Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At ECU, he manages community-engaged public health projects across eight regional hospitals that serve North Carolina’s underserved populations, particularly within the 44 counties of Eastern North Carolina (ENC). At the CDC, he’s been involved with research on the use of antiretroviral drugs by men with same-sex partners. The fellowship offer, he said, came shortly after completing a doctoral internship at Duke University Hospital, where he helped develop a hospital family support center for mass casualty incidents.
Now a new member of the Temple College of Public Health Alumni Board, Dr. Ubah is eager to give back. “It is my duty to share insights with future Owls, to encourage, empower, and assist any way I can,” he said. “My first stop in the United States was Temple. I see Temple as home—where my American journey started in August of 2016.”
He is also the first doctor in his nuclear, extended, and kindred families—a fact not lost on his community back home. “Many people in our village are looking up to me,” he said. “All thanks to God for the amazing opportunities and people he sends my way.”