Our Team
Dr. Akudo Anyanwu Ikemba MD, MPH - CEO
Dr. Akudo Anyanwu Ikemba is Founder and CEO of Friends Africa (Friends of the Global Fund Africa).For 3 years, she served as Technical Advisor for Global Fund Projects in Nigeria, under Columbia University's Access Project.
In this role she provided technical assistance to countries to enable them access and manage the Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB Malaria (GFATM) and was successful in securing $480 Million in funding for Nigeria from the Global Fund.
She has worked for the Centers for Disease Control - (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia and as an Associate Scientist with Life Technologies in Palo Alto, California.
She has also worked as a lecturer at Tufts University School of Medicine and has done extensive molecular biology research at Tufts University and Katholique University, Belgium on DNA analysis of Cryptosporium parvum and the motilin protein respectively.
She holds a Doctorate degree in medicine from Tufts University, a Masters degree in International Public Health from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from Lehigh University. She has also done post graduate studies at the University of London and the London Hospital for Tropical Diseases.
Her interests are in infectious diseases, economic development and in public-private partnerships for health in developing countries. She is deeply affected by Africa's astoundingly poor health indicators and the low quality of health systems and infrastructure. Her life goal is to play a pivotal leadership role in improving Africa's health status and development as a whole.
Chioma Nwachukwu - Associate Project Manager
She holds a Masters of Science degree in Health, Population and Society from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Science in International Affairs from Georgia Institute of Technology.Her experience spans research, geographic information systems, project planning and project coordination. She also worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Geographic Information Systems and Cref Creflo Dollar Ministries in Atlanta. Her interests include HIV/AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health.
Nwabundo Onyeabo - Communications Associate
She holds a Masters in Business Administration, with a focus on Marketing. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from Morgan State University and has done Public Relations projects in the medical, business and educational fields.She has been involved in projects with the United Nations Department of Public Information and has interests in strategies to achieve all the Millennium Development Goals.
Ukwori Kalu Onuma- Research
She holds Bachelors of Science in Economics from Mount Holyoke College with a special concentration on health funding and policy.Her research interests are the impacts of history, economic development and social justice on health care in Sub- Saharan Africa.