April 9, 2024
Ujuoñu Nwizu Social Media Takeover
To invigorate Social Mission Alliance’s social media presence with student perspectives on issues related to social mission in health professional education, on the first Friday of each month, one Health Justice initiative member gets the opportunity to posts about themselves, activities they’re involved in, and their interests relative to social mission across SMA’s social media platforms (Instagram and LinkedIn.)
See below for the social media takeover by Ujuoñu Nwizu on April 5, 2024.
Hi! My name is Ujuoñu Nwizu. Most folks call me “Uju.” I am a first-year public health student at UCLA. I moved around a lot but mostly grew up between New York, Mississippi, and different parts of Nigeria. I am passionate about utilizing community-driven education, training, and advocacy as tools towards achieving healing and health justice.
I stumbled into public health. I can point to several influences, including my personal and collective experiences of navigating healthcare, but ultimately, working in an internal medicine clinic solidified the path for me. Repeatedly witnessing folks come in for preventable conditions that were ultimately the result of inequitable social conditions was unnerving. I decided to be a part of efforts to address issues at the population level, at their root.
After my clinic experience, I enrolled in a public health class at OHSU-PSU School of Public Health called “Urban Public Health.” Most of my classmates were getting their MPHs or PhDs in public health. I remember feeling so overwhelmed by the jargon and language in my first class that I thought I’d drop it right after.
However, my professor and mentor, Dr. Dawn Richardson, stopped me. She reassured me I belonged and encouraged me to continue. Through her support, I remained enrolled. She also connected me to invaluable experiences that showed me the potential of utilizing research and evaluation to uplift community agency and health. I remain grateful for her support and mentorship.
Who is someone that encouraged you during your journey?
One of my projects at OHSU-PSU was examining the presence of lactation rooms as a health city indicator. One thing I am passionate about is expanding our view of health and what makes a city or region “healthy.” What if we measured the health of a city not only by its disease prevalence but by how well its infrastructure cares for and provides resources for its people? What would it look like to consider a sense of agency and self-determination as equally valuable measures of community health?
How would that shift our programs, policies, or practices?
Another pivotal experience for me was working at an HIV services organization in Portland, OR. Here, I utilized the counseling and facilitation skills I developed in college to support people in taking care of their sexual health. This was also a time when I deepened my skills in policy and advocacy work to address the gaps in care I was seeing at the time.
I believe HIV provides one of the greatest examples of community advocates, public health practitioners, and providers collaborating to change community conditions toward health promotion. If you’d like to learn more, here are some great books to start:
- My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson
- Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman
Inspired by my experiences in direct services, I transitioned into policy and systems change work in 2020. My professional work now focuses on improving public health workforce recruitment and retention as a strategy for advancing health equity. A big part of this is improving the diversity of the public health workforce. Learning from leaders at the Social Mission Alliance and Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity has been an incredibly valuable resource on my journey thus far.
In what ways has the Social Mission Alliance inspired or guided your work?
I am still figuring out my long-term career plans. Still, I plan to continue working towards advancing health justice by focusing on the intersection of racism, emotional and mental health, and disability justice
Thanks for joining me for this #FutureFeatureFriday! I am excited to continue growing and learning with the Social Mission Alliance. I am grateful for the mentorship, guidance, and support I have received from the SMA team, guest speakers, and my fellow fellows 😄. I am looking forward to meeting folks at the conference in April!
