September 1997
Student Wins $20K from NIH When opportunity came knocking for Chukwuka Okafor, the door was already open. The junior biochemistry major wastes no time waiting for things to happen.
He has developed a protocol for total protein separation from E.coli culture. He landed a research position in the laboratory of Dr. Kenneth Bridges, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Sickle and Thalassemia Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and in laboratories at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Quest Diagnostics.
In 1994 he was Nigerian National Champion in Chemistry and Mathematics. This year, he judged the Stoughton High School Science Fair. He has held leadership positions in the UMass Boston Pre-Med and Chemistry clubs and is a member of the Student National Medical Association and the American Students Medical Association.
One of Okafor's most recent achievements may be the most significant in helping him reach his goals of attending medical school, earning M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, performing clinical work and research, and becoming a medical school faculty member.
The Roxbury resident was awarded the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Undergraduate Scholarship for Individuals from Disadvantaged Backgrounds. One of 20 students selected from a national pool of 220 applicants, he will receive up to $20,000 per year for tuition, educational and living expenses. In return, he has agreed to two service obligations to the NIH: a 10-week, paid summer laboratory experience at NIH in Bethesda, Md.; and a year of NIH research service (post-graduation) for each year of scholarship support.
The scholarship program was established to encourage students from disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue educational and career opportunities in biomedical research. According to the NIH, students from disadvantaged backgrounds are from low-income families, or from environments that inhibit (but do not prevent) students from obtaining the knowledge, skills and ability required to enroll in undergraduate institutions.
Born in Boston, Okafor was educated in Nigeria, where he worked 40 hours a week to finance his high school education. He returned to Boston at age 16 and earned an academic scholarship to attend UMass Boston. Though making little more than minimum wage, Okafor sends money to his parents, whose combined annual income is about $510.
"Even going to college, I have a lot of discouragement from different people," Okafor said. "My high school advisor told me one day that she could not imagine me going to college, because it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for me to pay for my tuition."
Dr. Judith K. Gwathmey, research professor of medicine and director of the Integrated Physiology Research Laboratory at the Boston University School of Medicine, said she feels proud and honored to have had Okafor train in her laboratory at Harvard Medical School.
"As a practicing physician, in your lifetime you can impact and save maybe hundreds or thousands of lives. As a researcher, you can impact millions," Gwathmey said. "He will be a physician and a researcher," she said of Okafor. "It's very clear that this man will impact millions of lives."