28-Year-Old Nigerian Born Doctor Named On Canada’s 50 Most Influential People List

Chika Oriuwa, a resident psychiatry doctor at the University of Toronto has been named one of Canada’s 50 most influential people.

Oriuwa, whose parents emigrated from Nigeria to Canada came 37th on the 2022 Macleans Power List which is a ranking of the most influential people in Canada.

“Our ranking hews toward good-faith actors pursuing positive change, even if their approaches, or their notions of positive, are not universally shared,” the power list said about its ranking.

In 2016, when Ms Oriuwa arrived at the University of Toronto as an incoming medical student, she was the only black student in a cohort of 259.

Being the only black student in the cohort became a catalyst and propellant for a new phase which saw her advocating for processes that would increase diversity in medicine and becoming the face of the new Black student application programme the following year.

In 2020, when Ms Oriuwa graduated, she was the sole valedictorian of her class, making her the only Black woman to receive the honour in the school’s 179-year history.

According to Maclean, Ms Oriuwa said she chose psychiatry because it has “some of the most marginalized patient demographics in medicine.”

“When I did my clinical rotations, I knew I needed to do something where mental health was the centre,” she was quoted as saying.

Oriuwa is not only a resident physician at the University of Toronto, but she’s also a very well accomplished spoken word artist.

Her spoken word poem Woman, Black which she released in 2017 garnered over twelve thousand views on YouTube.

Oriuwa is also passionate about inspiring young girls, and she is quoted to have expressed how fulfilling it is to her that she can impact the lives of young girls.

Before her inclusion in the Macleans power list, Oriuwa was selected by toymaker, Mattel to be part of its Barbie Role Models Program as she was one of those who worked tirelessly during the Covid-19 pandemic. She has a Barbie doll created in her likeness.

In an interview she granted after the selection, she expressed her happiness at being selected stating “It was such a full-circle moment for me, as a young girl who played with Barbies and always really wanted to see myself reflected. Not only as a child who wanted to be a physician but as a young Black girl.”

She has so many achievements to her name as she has shown countless times that she doesn’t shy away from challenges.

• She co-founded the Black Interprofessional Students’ Association (BIPSA) in Medical school in order to network students across graduate programs.
• She is also the ambassador and public face of the Black Student Application Program (BSAP), an optional application process created by the University of Toronto to help qualified black students get into the university seamlessly.
• She delivered the keynote speech at Women’s College Hospital for International Women’s Day, entitled “Thriving at the Intersections: Being a Black Woman in Medicine.”
• She has received several awards and honours like the 2018 African Scholars Emerging Academic Award – University of Toronto, 2020 Valedictorian of the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine.
• Oriuwa is also the co-director of a non-profit youth leadership organization called Uflow, and was on the External Implementation Steering Committee to the Minister of Children and Youth Services, focused on shaping the Ontario Black Youth Action Plan.