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Navy blue background has diamonds and starbursts. A spotlight icon shines on a circular image of Aiden Fox. A label reads "In the spotlight." Below the label is the text "Ebere Udeogu."

Every career path has a starting point. Hobbies grow into jobs. Volunteering lights a way forward. Sometimes, a small spark is all it takes.

For our new student assistant, the spark was a class assignment. Ebere Udeogu (pronounced you-dog-o) chose CHER as her Carolina unit to research. Now, she’s joining our team!

Get to know Ebere (pronounced e-bear-e) in this Q&A.

Tell us about your role at CHER. What’s your position and focus?

At CHER, I am the Education and Engagement Programming Assistant.

I would say that my focus is to help out with current projects as well as future projects by curating a mix of health policy literature, resources and connections.

So far I have been pretty focused on all things surrounding Project GRACE and I am excited to see all that will be done by the end of this academic year.

What was your path to CHER?

As a work-study student, I was looking for a job that was not only beneficial in a monetary sense but in an academic sense.

I was so fortunate to see my position listed in the catalog of work-study options offered this year because I have always been passionate about health policy, but more specifically, health equity.

I took a course during my freshman year at UNC, and I had to research a department in the school, and I chose CHER. So, finding out that there was an opportunity to be a part of the team, I applied the second I saw it.

What are your goals while at CHER?

Some of my goals at CHER would have to be to further my knowledge on things about social medicine and public health.

I would love to participate in academic research writing and further connections within the field.

What are some challenges you’ve faced in your field of work?

This is my first time in a role like this, but I could imagine some struggles in community participation for research, as well as normal challenges that come with research: writing, scheduling, etc.

What’s a fun fact about you?

A fun fact about me is that I have dual citizenship!

I am a citizen of Nigeria as well as the United States.