Dr. Onye Nnorom
Dr. O
Public speaker – in community, healthcare, corporate spaces
Co-Founder, Black Health Education Collaborative
Clinical Consultant, Nicotine Dependence Clinic, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Creator & Host, Healthcaring Differently
About
Dr. Onye Nnorom is a distinguished physician, advocate, public speaker and leader in the field of public health and equity. She is a family doctor and public health and preventive medicine specialist and Assistant Professor at the University of Toronto, in Canada. Born in Montreal to parents of Nigerian and Trinidadian backgrounds, she learned at an early age the impact of social injustice and the power of community action. With a deep commitment to social justice and health equity, Dr. Nnorom has dedicated her career to addressing health disparities and improving health outcomes for marginalized communities, with a particular focus on Black populations. Her expertise lies in the intersection of racism and health, and she has been instrumental in advancing equitable healthcare practices and medical education policies.
Dr. Nnorom completed her medical training at McGill University, where she developed a passion for community medicine and the importance of addressing social determinants of health. She went on to pursue a Master of Public Health degree at the University of Toronto. Driven by a desire to effect systemic change, Dr. Nnorom has actively advocated for health equity through research and community engagement.
She has led numerous initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities, promoting cultural competency in healthcare, and empowering underserved populations. From 2013-18 was the Chronic Disease Prevention Lead at TAIBU Community Health Centre, where she led a number of successful cancer screening initiatives which have been published in peer reviewed journals; the Afrocentric approaches they applied in her community programs are being applied in numerous clinics across Ontario to advance Black women’s health. From 2019-2022, she was the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Lead, within the Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) at the University of Toronto. During that time, she was also the President of the Black Physicians' Association of Ontario where she forged a partnership between the BPAO and the DFCM to lead and coordinate vaccine and wellness clinics across Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 2020 - 2024, Dr. Nnorom hosted a podcast called Race, Health and Happiness where she interviewed successful Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, providing wisdom on how to stay well in a “racialized world”. She is now the creator and host of Healthcaring Differently, a social media movement to encourage diverse youth to pursue and explore various careers in medicine and healthcare.
Dr. Nnorom is the co-founder of the Black Health Education Collaborative, which was established to provide online educational resources on anti-Black racism and Black health for health professional students, clinicians and public health practitioners. She is also a mother, and a dancer!
Dr. Onye Nnorom's unwavering dedication to equity and her tireless efforts to create a more just and inclusive healthcare system have earned her widespread recognition and respect within the medical community.