Assistant Professor
Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Adolescent Medicine; Community Based Participatory Research; Community Health Research; Community Pharmacy; Global Health; Health Disparities Research; Health Outcomes Research; Health Services Research; Implementation Science; Program Evaluation; Public Health; Qualitative Methods
Dr. Obinna Ekwunife is a health economist and implementation scientist, currently serving as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Population Health, at the University at Buffalo. His research focuses on developing, testing, and implementing cost-effective strategies to address health inequalities in adults with chronic diseases. He works on establishing cost-effective interventions to inform decision-making, particularly in low-income and marginalized settings. He also focuses on implementing strategies to enhance access to health interventions for underserved populations. As the health economist in a multidisciplinary research team focused on improving health equity, he employs econometric methodologies to identify cost-effective interventions that improve health outcomes and population health.
His ongoing project in Nigeria explores the potential of private community pharmacies as a novel avenue for PrEP delivery, specifically targeting young individuals at high risk of HIV acquisition to improve accessibility. Obinna also serves as a co-investigator on two research projects, contributing to the health economics evaluation components. The first is an NIH R01 grant focused on Cardiovascular Risk Reduction for Adults with Food Insecurity Using Structured Incentives (CVD-FIT). The second is a project funded by the American Diabetes Association that examines a novel, continuous glucose monitoring–enhanced Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) intervention aimed at preventing type 2 diabetes in adults with prediabetes.