Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Ifeoma Akwue is a Postbac Research Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). As a Nigerian American, she brings a deep awareness of how culture, stigma, and systemic barriers shape mental health experiences—perspectives that guide both her research and advocacy.

Ifeoma’s dedication to mental health was strengthened in college, where she volunteered as a crisis counselor on a 24/7 suicide hotline and completed an honors thesis in the Florida Exposure and Anxiety Research (FEAR) Lab. Both experiences sharpened her ability to pair empathy with evidence-based approaches and deepened her commitment to bridging research with real-world support.

At NIMH, Ifeoma leads projects exploring the structure of manic symptoms in bipolar disorder and adapting trauma assessments for cultural sensitivity. Her work spans genetic risk analysis, psychiatric assessment, and developing tools that better reflect the realities of historically underrepresented populations.

To Ifeoma, advancing health equity means ensuring that rigorous science translates into tangible impact for communities too often overlooked. She draws inspiration from James Baldwin’s words: “We are responsible for the world in which we find ourselves, if only because we are the only sentient force which can change it.”