The New Doctors

Meet Chiebonam Chigoziem Ezeokoli ’05, MD ’09
Peoria Campus

When her grandmother died in Nigeria of a stroke in 2004, the path in medicine was set for Chiebonam Chigoziem Ezeokoli ’05, MD ’09. “There was no healthcare nearby to help her. I want to be a part of changing that,” she says.

While earning her bachelor of science in community health at UIUC, Ezeokoli volunteered in community day care centers and tutored young children. During medical school, she led the Peoria campus chapter of the Student National Medical Association, organizing health fairs and blood drives for underserved communities around Peoria. She also is active in the Nigerian American Public Professionals Association, a group combating HIV/AIDS in African and African-American communities.

Ezeokoli now is a resident in anesthesiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and dreams of starting a program to recruit medical students to do mission rotations in Nigeria. She envisions her own career in critical or intensive care somewhere in the U.S.—and Nigeria.