1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Oderah Udemadu and I’m a pharmaceutical science major at NCCU. I’m currently doing my internship at UNC on cancer research and do research at NCCU during the school year as well. I’m a first generation Nigerian as well as the firstborn of four kids. Both of my parents are RNs.

2. Who was your favorite teacher in school and how did he or she impact you? My favorite teachers (a teacher + her student teacher) were in English actually, and their impact was phenomenal. Along with the nurturing of my love to read, they encouraged me to aspire academically in an environment that severely lacked resources or motivation to excel academically. They also taught me to be me and never be ashamed of who I am despite who hates on it.

3. When did you first decide you wanted to become a doctor and why? I actually came to the conclusion that I would love to be a doctor about a month ago! As God would have it, one curious search eventually led me to Premed Star and the website has been momentous in helping me feel like its a realm of reality possible for me. I want to help people and being able to apply my knowledge and expertise to aid in others health is a blessing that would honestly make me feel better than any amount of money could.

4. What area of medicine are you interested in? I think that oncology is very interesting, because of my familiarity with cancer as a result of research. Pediatrics and neurosurgery are also highly up there, due to my love of children and interest in the science and medicine of the nervous system.

5. What’s the coolest experience you’ve had so far on your premedical journey? I would say that the coolest experience I’ve ver had so far (though I had no clue at the time) was having the blessing of being able to shadow the lab of Dr. Kafui Dzirasa (MD/PhD) at Duke back in high school. It was one of the very few shadowing experiences I had and now that I know more, I’m very grateful I got to see the lab, the mice, the tech they used, and gleam an insight on how they analyze the brains of the mice.

6. What is your favorite book? I would say its a 3-way tie between the Inheritance series, Harry Potter series, and the Autobiography of Malcolm X.

7. Tell us one thing interesting about you that most people don’t know. My cousin is currently playing in the NBA summer league (Go Stan Okoye!)

8. If you couldn’t be a doctor, what would you want to do? That’s a tough question… I’d probably go into research or industry if I couldn’t do medicine.

9. What has been your biggest obstacle as a premed and how did you (or are you) overcome it? Lack of exposure and examples of black (male) doctors. I had to find out what I didn’t know and seek out the few black/minority spaces for premeds, and I can’t give Premed Star enough credit for being so active on that front.

10. What do you like most about PreMed STAR? The community of aspiring individuals coupled with the tutelage of the doctors on here, the wealth of advice in the form of weekly blogs, the insight on what being a doctor truly is like, and the recruitment of other minority doctors to speak on their life and how they made it as doctors.

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