Dr. Chinedu Oraka MBBS, MHA
Medical research efforts are normally directed to understanding the effects of health-related issues that affect the predominant demographic groups within a population. In the Canadian context, there are large bodies of health research data on issues that affect the Caucasian population but similar data on the African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) demographic in Canada is sparse. Therefore, the impact of certain health conditions on Blacks is not well understood.
HIV for instance disproportionately impacts the Black population. ACB people make up approximately 5% of Ontario’s population they account for some 25% of new HIV cases in the province. This fact amongst other well-known social determinants of health that disproportionately affect the ACB population led a team of ACB researchers from Ottawa and Toronto to initiate the project; “A/C study protocol: a cross-sectional study of HIV epidemiology among African, Caribbean, and Black people in Ontario” (https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/7/e036259) of which Dr. Chinedu Oraka was a part of.
Dr. Oraka was born in Western Nigeria (Lagos), the 7th of eight children born to Festus and Kenechukwu Oraka. He graduated from Bright Star Comprehensive High School and was intent on becoming a medical doctor, “I’ve always had an interest in becoming a doctor”. But due to the intense competition, he was unable to get into medical school. He decided to get a degree in industrial chemistry at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Nigeria. He felt quite comfortable with this direction but his father who was always an avid supporter of his desire to become a doctor was not too impressed with the direction that he had taken. This concern prompted Chinedu to re-examine his decision, and at the end of his second year, he concluded “I don’t think this is working for me, I don’t think that I will live a fulfilled life if I go ahead and do this.” He reverted to his childhood ambition to become a doctor and re-applied to study medicine at the UNIZIK medical school. He was admitted as a first-year student in the medical faculty. Chinedu graduated as an MD in 2013 and decided to focus his efforts on researching tropical infectious diseases. This decision is now having a positive impact on the lives of Canada’s black population and beyond.
Dr. Chinedu started to focus on the impact of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) in Nigeria. He determined that HIVAIDS disproportionately affects people of African descent and also had a devastating impact on Black pregnant women and children. Dr. Chinedu’s work attracted the interest of other medical professionals and policymakers, and he began to present his work at medical conferences such as the American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene (ASTMH) Annual General Meetings, Virology Education’s HIV & Women conferences, and INTEREST conferences (known as ‘African CROI’).
In December 2015, while working for Family Health International (FHI 360) Dr. Chinedu returned to Nigeria from a trip to the United States. FHI360 is “an international non-profit working to improve the health and well-being of people in the United States and around the world.” Dr. Chinedu was also preparing to pursue a master’s degree at a US institution and to get US Board Certification to practice medicine in the United States. But fate intervened. In a discussion with a cousin who lived in Mississauga, he was introduced to Jennifer, a young Nigerian lady who had come to Ottawa to attend Carleton University several years earlier. Chinedu initiated communications with Jennifer and came to visit her in Canada four months later. During this visit, his dad passed away. However, the couple was married within the next 6 months.
A few years later Dr. Chinedu, with credentials, experience, and aspirations to go to the USA decided to immigrate to Canada instead, “even though Canada was never in my plans”. “Maybe God wanted me to go through the school of hard knocks,” he said. He is convinced that his meeting with Jennifer was God’s intervention in his plans. And while his permanent resident application was being processed, he became familiar with the Canadian health system and attended conferences in his area of expertise. At the Canadian Association for HIV Research (CAHR) Conference in Montreal, he met Dr. Josephine Etowa, an Ottawa University professor who was leading an Ottawa Team in a joint research effort between the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network looking at the impact of HIV on the Black Community. Dr. Chinedu became the Project Coordinator for that research effort. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/10/7/e036259#ref-2
Dr. Chinedu moved on to coordinate another critical research project assessing the Mental Health of Ottawa’s Black Community (https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/reports-research-and-statistics/mental-health-reports.aspx). and immersed himself in other social activities within Ottawa’s black community. He is currently a mentor of young black men with the CODE organization. And in 2019 he worked with a group of ACB health professionals to launch the “Canadians of African Descent Health Organization.” ( https://www.cadho.ca/)
Dave Tulloch was born in Jamaica. He immigrated to Canada in 1970 to pursue post-secondary education. He earned a diploma in electronics engineering technology from Algonquin College, a Bachelor of Admin and Bachelor of Commerce (Hon) from the University of Ottawa, and a Master of Business Administration from Concordia University. He has an extensive career in information technology and in IT consulting with Systemhouse, KPMG, and Oracle Corporation where he retired as a director. Dave taught IT and business courses at CEGEP (Hull) and tutored at the Wake Tech College in North Carolina. He wrote articles for the Ottawa Spectrum publication that focused on Ottawa’s Visible Minorities community and has written a book documenting the life stories of early Caribbean Immigrants to Ottawa, scheduled for publication later this year. He can be contacted via email: [email protected]