Meet 2025 Award Recipient
Nnamdi Igwe
Nnamdi Igwe was born and raised in Nigeria until 2013, when he moved to the United States. As a child in Nigeria, Nnamdi saw firsthand the consequences of lack of access to high quality, high value medical care. His personal experiences ignited his desire to pursue a career in medicine. Nnamdi obtained his undergraduate education at Cornell University, where he was a recipient of the Hunter R. Rawlings III Presidential Research Scholarship. He graduated in May 2021 with a bachelor’s degree in human development. Nnamdi entered the Icahn School of Medicine MD program in July 2021.
During his time at Icahn, Nnamdi taught basic physiology at an afterschool program for underrepresented high school students interested in medicine. This experience fueled his passion for mentoring, teaching and curriculum development. Nnamdi also engaged in multiple successful quality improvement and patient safety initiatives that focused on improving quality of care for hospitalized patients with limited English proficiency, an underserved population. He spearheaded the development of standardized multilingual instructions for home oxygen equipment supplied to COVID-19 patients with non-English language preference. He also developed a multilingual communication card that improves the efficiency of brief bedside communication between frontline staff and hospitalized patients with non-English language preference. As an immigrant, Nnamdi relates to the experiences of this underserved population and firmly believes language should never be a barrier to quality care in America. Furthermore, Nnamdi worked with Mount Sinai’s Institute for Advanced Medicine to develop an intervention that successfully increased the clinic’s annual trichomoniasis screening rate among cis- and transgender women living with HIV. Nnamdi was awarded a $25,000 scholarship in 2024 by the Society of Hospital Medicine for his achievements in healthcare quality improvement. He intends to continue immersing himself in roles in which he advocates for marginalized communities.
Nnamdi is grateful to his numerous mentors at Mount Sinai, particularly Dr. Anne Linker, Dr. Vinh-Tung Nguyen, Dr. Xu Tao, Dr. Andrew Dunn, Dr. Beth Raucher, Dr. Rex Hermansen, and Dr. Alexandra Abrams-Downey. He also wishes to thank his family for their constant love, support, prayers, and encouragement.
Nnamdi will graduate with his MD degree and will continue his residency training in Internal Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital.