Student spotlight – Olugbadero Yerokun

Education is one of the four pillars of UNMC’s mission and our students are the lifeblood of that aspect of campus life.

In UNMC Today’s Student Spotlight, we get to know some of these students, who will become tomorrow’s health care professionals.

Today we meet:

• Name: Olugbadero Yerokun
• Hometown: Lusaka, Zambia
• Program/Year: Master of Public Health, Health Policy, second year

List three songs on your playlist:

• “Good Father,” Chris Tomlin
• “God Gave Me You,” Blake Shelton
• “Show Your Money,” Wiz Kid

What sparked your interest in public health?

I have always enjoyed molecular science and trained to become a benchside researcher. I worked as a research scientist in the HIV drug resistance department at the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) for a little over a year, and this was my first real exposure to a combination of molecular science and population-based health research. I really enjoyed interacting with the community and taking part in community-based programs. This is when I decided that I wanted to pursue a degree in public health so that I could learn more about community outreach and eventually tie in my research experience with community intervention programs.

Your favorite study snack:
Pringles, sour cream and onion.

Your favorite app:
Wats App

Three things people may not know about you:

• I used to be a member of the Georgetown Gospel Choir, and we sang with Aretha Franklin in 2009 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
• My family gave me the nickname ‘Peaches’ because when I was born they said that I looked orange and fuzzy like a peach.
• I am both Nigerian and Zambian.