Arinzechukwu Nwagbata

Bio

Arinzechukwu “Arinze” hails from Abagana in Anambra State, Nigeria. He completed his Bachelor of Science and Arts honors degree in Biochemistry and obtained a certificate in the Business of Healthcare from the University of Texas at Austin (UT). He graduated in 2020 as a Dean’s Honored Graduate, a Health Science Honors Scholar, and a Graduate of Distinction in Service and Leadership from the College of Natural Sciences at UT.

Arinze’s background in architecture and engineering motivated his enrollment back in Nigeria at the Federal Science and Technical College, Awka, where he developed and mastered various vocational and technical skills like technical drawing, conduit wiring, and fabrication and welding. His role as his family’s provider during this time exposed him to various healthcare disparities in his Nigerian community, which inspired him to volunteer with a medical mission team from the United States. 

Influenced by his background, Arinze prioritizes service to his family and communities. He was a member of the Boys’ Brigade of Nigeria for ten years, attaining the ranks of Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, and then Color Sergeant in 2013. As an officer of the brigade, he was in command of squads of boys, whom he both mentored and trained to become community leaders. His research in the Aptamer stream of the Freshman Research Initiative at UT focused on identifying RNA molecules that can be used for malaria drug delivery. His Capstone thesis project examined the psychological distress of manual labor on laboring college students in southeastern Nigeria. Both projects contributed to the available knowledge on health issues faced by southeastern Nigeria communities. At UT, addressing the decline in black male physicians in the last decades, he co-founded the Excellence Mentorship Club, an organization that provides community and resources to black male premeds.

In 2018, Arinze founded the Hold a Hand project, a non-profit providing financial support to underprivileged southeastern Nigerian students who are community leaders.  Now at Harvard Medical School, he continues to run this organization and hopes to obtain a business degree and do more work in non-profit Healthcare.