“Where we were and how far we’ve come gives me hope.”

Through the bombs of war and the barriers in health care, Dr. Nkem Iroegbu has seen the battle for equality up close his entire life.

Dr. Iroegbu is the Chief Medical Officer at Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center and recently named the new President of Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee.

He was born half a world away in Nigeria in 1965 and grew up in the middle of a civil war. For years, his parents protected him and his five siblings from the fighting around them.

His uncle was a physician and inspired him to get into medicine. At age 11, Dr. Iroegbu left for a British-run boarding school but knew he wanted to eventually come to the United States.

After earning his medical degree from the University of Nigeria, he went to New York City to begin a medical internship. Early on, like many in the African American and diaspora community, he experienced the roadblocks of systemic racism in American society and health care.

He remembers patients he helped return to health who later would ask for a different provider who was not Black.

“I didn’t get it when I first got here,” said Dr. Iroegbu. “Virtually everybody in Nigeria is Black, and the divisions are often based on tribe or religion, not race. In the U.S., I was being treated differently in certain circumstances based on skin color. In general, as a person of color you’re not playing on equal footing as your white male counterparts, especially in health care but also in the larger community.”

Dr. Iroegbu completed the internship, became a U.S. citizen and has gone on to a successful 30-year career in medicine. He joined Advocate Aurora in 2017 and is passionate about mentoring Black team members and helping them understand they can achieve their professional goals.

“Where we were and how far we’ve come gives me hope. But until we have equitable treatment and access to health care, education and other resources, there will still be issues we need to deal with,” said Dr. Iroegbu.

“We’re all human beings and we’re all more similar than different. If we can tap into those similarities to learn from one another and celebrate our differences that make us stronger as a community, we can all come out more knowledgeable.

“We are, in a sense, a composite of our experiences, along with what we’ve been taught or made to believe. Having a willingness to listen and learn about others, their unique histories, their journeys and the factors that shape the lens through which they view the world, are essential to overcoming the prejudices that exist in our world.”