Chinyere Ukaga

Chinyere Ukaga completed her 'O' level at Federal Government[3] Girls Secondary school, Onitsha (1978 - 1983) before proceeding to University of Nigeria, Nsukka[4] where she attained a bachelor's degree in Zoology (1983 - 1987), a master's degree in Medical Parasitology (1987 - 1989) and a doctorate degree in the same field (1999). Her Ph.D. program which was supported by a grant from the Tropical Diseases Research (TDR)/ World Health Organization (WHO). Ukaga won the University of Nigeria Nsukka Vice chancellor Chancellor's[5] post graduate prize (1st prize) and Faculty post graduate prize as the best graduating Ph.D. student for the 1998–1999 academic session.[1][6]

Chinyere Ukaga started her career as a research officer with UNDP/WORLD BANK/WHO Onchocerciasis Control Project in Achi, Oji - River Local Government Area, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu, Department of Pharmacology, Enugu, Nigeria (1989 – 1992) where her duties consisted mainly of the collection, examination[7] and identification/analysis of parasitological data in the environs. She began her career in Imo State University, Owerri in 1994 as an assistant lecturer in 1994. She rose through the ranks (Lecturer 2, Lecturer 1. Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor) to become a professor of Public Health Parasitology. She has also served as the Director, Consultancy Services Unit of Imo State University Owerri.[1] As the Director of Academic planning, she represents Imo State University in the Nigerian Universities System Ranking of the National Universities Commission.[8] She is also a certified accreditor of higher institutions.[9]

Ukaga was the national president of the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria 2016 - 2021,[10] an Association that champions and brings visibility to Neglected Tropical Diseases[11] (NTDs). As the President, she endorsed the Abu Dhabi Declaration of Support for an SDG Global Indicator for NTDs.[12][13] Ukaga was in the team that drew up a framework to guide African nations in creating master-plans for the control and elimination of NTDs in line with WHO Roadmap, 2030. The framework has three critical focus areas namely;[14]

• Shifting emphasis from process indicators to impact indicators as an avenue for increasing accountability
• Mainstreaming programmes for elimination of NTDs into national health systems instead of being standalone interventions
• Advocating for community ownership and national funding of NTDs programmes instead of focusing on external donor funding and control.

She is a council member (African region), and serves on the Research Grant Committee of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID).[15][16] She is also the Project adviser to S-DELI, an organization that promotes Literacy for the Deaf through sign languages in Nigerian indigenous languages.[17] She is a Council member, Parasitology and Public Health Society, Nigeria 2021–2024.[18] Professor Chinyere Ukaga has more than seventy (70) sole and joint publications in local and international books and journals as chapters, articles, conference papers, solicited papers and technical reports which focus mainly on the spread of tropical diseases such as malaria and how it affects pregnant women and children,[19][20][21][22] onchocerciasis[23][24][25] filariasis[26] and how environmental factors aid the spread of diseases in the tropics.[27]

Chinyere Ukaga is married to Stanley Roberts Ukaga, the chief operating officer of STK biotech company, where she also serves privately as the research and training coordinator.[28] They have four children.[1]