With deserving respect for his contributions and relentless determination to improve the lives of communities, the scholar, physician, philanthropist and mentor, Dr. Odiraa Nwankwor, is profiled by as a Champion of International Health Empowerment.

Dr. Odiraa Nwankwor has remained a resourceful catalyst to high-value, free medical missions from the diaspora to Nigeria and a few countries, so far, in the continent of Africa. He is a pediatric intensivist at Nemours Children’s Hospital, Wilmington in Delaware and Cooper University, Camden in New Jersey.

He is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. Also, he has a Masters degree in Public Health (MPH).

On May 20, 2025, at Nemours Healthcare Academy, his group hosted students from the Wilmington Area High School in the State of Delaware. 

He said the young persons’ event is a “part of our effort to encourage and mentor high school students who have an interest in the healthcare profession. We took the students on a hospital-wide tour and then engaged them in simulation skills stations.”

He makes an important point in the politics and economics of healthcare in Nigeria. “In my country of birth (Nigeria), pediatric medical services – particularly intensive care services — are often substandard, and it’s a sad fact that one out of every eight children born in Nigeria will die before age 5 often of preventable diseases,” said Nwankwor.

“We established this mission to help the citizens by building and maintaining strong health systems through international collaboration and support.”

He is the Founder of the Health Place for Children Initiative, Global Health Projects Inc and Nigeria Pediatric ICU (PICU) Project, with support from Nemours Children’s Hospital  and Cooper University Hospital.

Internationally, his team visited on a medical mission with the Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah. On April 3, 2025, they conducted free ENT surgeries and generously donated state-of-the-art medical equipment to the Children’s Emergency Clinic in the State.

Ever an optimist regarding the capacities of young minds, he added that “There was so much excitement around. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these vibrant and brilliant young minds.”

He secured the equipment and shared the information that “we received three hemodialysis machines for our Nigeria PICU Project. Thanks to the Dialysis Unit, Nemours Children’s Hospital, Wilmington in the State of Delaware.”

Collectively, to extend the appreciation of the Nigeria Project team members, Nwankwor wrote a simple but special message: “Grateful heart” with the heart symbol.

One of the latest efforts where he led his group to  reduce the challenges of inadequate equipment, and, in some cases, replace outdated medical supplies took place a few weeks ago, in Anambra State of Nigeria, on May 21, 2025.

Chief of Staff to the Governor of Anambra State, Ernest Ezeajughi, took delivery of  Nwankwor’s donation of medical supplies and healthcare modern equipment.

Ezeajughi, an astute advocate for Governor ChukwumaSoludo, applauded his boss, a former Governor of the Central Bank Of Nigeria. He conveyed Soludo’s appreciation of the contributions and efforts of Anambra State indigenes such as Nwankwor.

Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. AfamObidike, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr. Joe Akabuike, Nwankwor’s father, Chief Patrick Nwankwor, several dignitaries and members of the university and the Amaku-Awka community were at the event.

Nwankwor is a Visiting Scholar at the College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus and a Fellow of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program.

The brilliant and public-spirited catalyst has been recognized for several accomplishments by his peers.

He was awarded the title of “Ambassador Per  Excellence” by the University of Nigeria College of Medicine Alumni Association of North America (UNCOMAA-NA), during their AGM/Gala and the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA) Conference 2025, at the Eko Hotels, in Lagos, Nigeria. 

The American Association of Physician Leadership (AAPL) listed him as a Certified Physician Executive and a Public Health Expert.

Nwankwor is credited with leading the establishment of the first  Pediatric ICU in Nigeria at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla Enugu State (in 2019). He is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Advance Pediatrics Life Support Global Steering Committee, and Committee Member, World Sepsis Congress of the Global Sepsis Alliance.

He is a member of Beta Sigma Fraternity of the University of Nigeria, (UNN-UNEC) alumni network.