Congratulations to Nwora Lance Okeke, MD, MPH for receiving the 2023 HIVMA Innovative Leader Award. Dr. Okeke, an Associate Director of the CFAR, was recognized by the HIV Medicine Association during IDWeek 2023 for his contributions to advancing the field through his productive research portfolio and innovative and transformative delivery of care to people with HIV.
The Innovator Award recognizes HIVMA members in early or mid-career who have made outstanding and original contributions to HIV medicine in clinical care, provider education, research or advocacy. Dr. Okeke — an assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases and population health sciences at Duke University School of Medicine — leads a growing research program focused on optimizing the HIV care continuum, from prevention to comorbidity management using contemporary data and implementation science-informed approaches.
To date, Dr. Okeke’s work has yielded more than 55 peer-reviewed publications. He is currently the co-principal investigator on a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases-funded research initiative that seeks to use electronic health record-based predictive modeling to identify persons who would most benefit from pre-exposure prophylaxis in the Deep South.
In addition to his research, he also serves as the current vice chief of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Duke Division of Infectious Diseases and associate director of the Duke Infectious Diseases Fellowship Training Program. In these roles, he has developed a number of innovative educational initiatives to promote the delivery of equitable care in the field of infectious diseases. One of his projects is the HIV Clinical Practice Fellowship Quality Improvement Initiative, which provides a platform for infectious diseases fellows to use data-driven approaches to identify and address health inequities in HIV care at Duke. Dr. Okeke is also the founding director of the Evidence2Practice initiative, an innovative program that promotes careers in HIV science to students at historically Black colleges and universities by highlighting HIV-related implementation research. The program has held interactive three-day workshops at 10 HBCUs across the South to date.
HIVMA is proud to recognize Dr. Okeke’s innovative work in research and education with the 2023 Innovator Award, and the Duke CFAR congratulates Dr. Okeke on this well-deserved award!
Read more about the award.