2023 BENEFIT FOR STUYVESANT - THE YOUNG PEGLEG AWARD
Nina Uzoigwe ‘17 is an MD/PhD candidate within the NIH Medical Scientist Training Program at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and went to Stuyvesant High School, where she was an active researcher in Stuy’s Regeneron Program and served as the Black Student League’s President as well as an Alto I Section Leader for Stuyvesant’s Chorus.
After capturing national attention for being accepted to seven Ivy League schools, Nina Uzoigwe graduated from Harvard University ‘21 as a John Harvard Scholar (awarded to the top 5% of her class) and concentrated in Bioengineering with a Secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Her senior thesis, which won the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize (an award which recognizes outstanding scholarly work or research by students selected by a committee of faculty from Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences) examined pulmonary valve replacement in neonates with congenital heart defects at Boston Children’s Hospital. This work additionally received the Dean’s Award in Bioengineering, which is the highest honor bestowed to students within the S.B. Engineering Program. While at Harvard, she also served as an EMT and a health peer advising liaison, aiding the student campus and Cambridge community at large, and she volunteered as a mentor at Science Club for Girls at a nearby elementary school.
Her love for cultivating genuine excitement, confidence, and literacy in STEM for young scholars within underrepresented communities did not stop there. She is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of RISE UP, a four week summer program funded by the Perlmutter Cancer Center at NYU Langone Health that is centered around lab research immersion and augmented by clinical experiences focused on building scientific skills and career development in young underrepresented minorities in medicine. Through her practice as a surgeon-scientist, she hopes to continue to spearhead efforts in bridging gaps in education so URMs are inspired to become powerful influencers of tomorrow in their respective fields.
As a current medical student, she is completing her clinical rotations and is looking forward to obtaining a PhD in cardiology. She aims to use her education to advocate, bridge and expand research, clinical, and social sectors and address the cardiovascular burden present in Black/African American communities in New York City and the world at large.