Dr. Chizoba Wonodi is an Associate Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Nigeria country director at the school’s International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC). She also serves as the director for immunization for the five-year USAID-funded MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership project. She is a public health physician with interests in vaccine research, policies, and programs to improve immunization access, coverage, and equity within integrated healthcare systems.
Dr. Wonodi has nearly 30 years of public health experience and is a recognized leader in the immunization field, where she has mentored many, assisted countries’ immunization programs and led several multi-million-dollar research and implementation projects on innovative ways to improve capacity building, vaccination uptake and accountability for immunization services. Her most recent work is on understanding and addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.
Dr. Wonodi obtained her medical degree from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and her masters and doctorate in public health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar. She founded the Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA) in 2016 as a platform to mobilize a grassroots movement to promote equitable access to vaccinations at country and global levels. She is a member of the Gavi CSO Constituency Platform Steering Committee and represents the Constituency as an observer at the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) for immunization. She has won several awards; her most recent being the 2021 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School’s Excellence in International Public Health Practice Award.
June 3, 2021