When Onyeche Oche was choosing between multiple pharmacy graduate schools, she chose the University of Iowa because of the people.

Oche is a PhD student in the Health Services Research area of the UI College of Pharmacy under Associate Professor Korey Kennelty. The advanced degree program provides an innovative approach to studying the challenges facing the healthcare system and provides evidence to support policy-based solutions.

She chose the University of Iowa after meeting with faculty members.

"Although I got fully funded offers for the same program at other universities, the decision to come to the University of Iowa was quite easy because interviewing with the health services research faculty showed me something truly special…that they saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. I just knew in my gut that I had to come here and have had no reasons to regret that decision," Oche said.

"My research interests are varied and include social justice, health equity, health care access for vulnerable populations, process improvement, and implementation science.

Before this, she worked in pharmacy and healthcare administration in Nigeria and the United States.

The new College of Pharmacy has been a definite plus for Oche now that she is here.

"The building creates the right kind of atmosphere that not only makes a student want to succeed but also provides an abundance of resources to make success achievable. When you add sound training from excellent faculty to our fantastic research environment, the sky really is the starting point, not the limit, for future pharmacy graduates from the UI College of Pharmacy," she added.

Oche's path was highlighted in an article on UI International Programs website.