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Biography of Nwachukwu Anakwenze MD,MPH,MBA Okaa Omee na Abagana,Omeligbo na Aguleri He was born fifty Eight (58) years ago to a wonderful Abagana family. He is currently married to Vicky Anakwenze, M. D., MPH and we have four children. His secondary school education was interrupted by the Biafra/Nigeria war. Like many teenagers, he enlisted in the Biafran Army and served his nation with the engineering units around Aba, Owerri, etc. At the end of the war, he returned to secondary school to continue his education and graduated in 1972. In 1974, his drive for further studies brought me to the U. S. A. and to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). In 1976, he married Vicky while both of them were students at UCSD. After graduation in 1978 with a degree in Biology, he was admitted to the UCSD School of Medicine. During my undergraduate days, he was President of the Student Council for two years and President of the Black Students Union for one year. As a medical student, he was also an active member of the Board of the Student Council.When he completed his internship program at Baylor University, he moved to Los Angeles to begin my medical practice. In June 2005, he graduated with an MPH (Masters in Public Health) degree from UCLA and in 6-17-07 he graduated with an MBA degree at the University of California, Irvine. In May 2006, he was nominated and inducted into the IOTA (UCLA) Chapter of Delta Omega. Delta Omega is the national scholastic honorary society established in 1924 to recognize scholarship devotion to public health principles and outstanding service in public health. He worked for Firestone Medical Group for some time before starting his own medical practice. Victorian Care Medical Group is a private medical group with two large clinics and is currently managed by his wife and him. He is the Medical Director and supervisor for four physicians, one physician assistant and about twenty other employees. In 1993, he established Global Care Medical Group IPA, Inc, a very large managed healthcare organization in the greater Los-Angeles area (web site is globalcaremed. com). They manage over two thousand (2000) physician practices (primary care and specialists) in twenty-five hospital regions throughout Southern California in an independent physician association (IPA) setting with about 70,000 patient membership. They provide comprehensive medical services for all people in the various Los Angeles communities with a gross annual budget of about $40 million. He am also the Medical Director for Holy Care Home Health Agency in the Los Angeles area and part owner of Centinela-Freeman Hospital System, a group of about one major hospital (400 bed) in the Los Angeles area. He has received commendation, honors and awards from the two California Senators, from the City Councils of Los Angeles and the City of Inglewood, from the last three mayors of Los Angeles and Inglewood, from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and from the State government. The Black Congressional Caucus has also honored my work in the African American communities. Most of these are based on his services to the poor communities in the Los Angeles area. He was also the founding Chairman of Nigerian American World Affairs Council (NAWAC) a Nigerian think tank group based in the Los-Angeles area. He is the founding Chairman of Enyimba of North America, a Pan Igbo think tank based in the United States. He is one of the co-founders and Presidents of CISA a caucus of the Apex Igbo states organizations in America. All this exposure provides him with important avenues to promote the ASA-World agenda and attract goodwill to our Anambra State. He is the current Chairman of Igbo World Assembly the umbrella Igbo organization in diaspora and Anambra State Association World Wide the umbrella Anambra organization in diaspora. The commonwealth of Viginia under Governor Robert Macdonald appointed him a member of the American Frontier Cultural Museum(AFCM) Board of Trustees commencing in 7-1-2010 and ending in 6-30-2014.He is representing Ndigbo and Africans at the museum particularly the West African Igbo Village Community Involvement The most important aspect of my life is his commitment to service for the poor. As a medical student in San Diego, I always volunteered his time and resources in serving the disadvantaged communities. His companies have organized several free health fares in the Los Angeles area. They have also participated actively in drives for United Negro College Fund and Martin Luther King Day parade. As a member of Drew Medical Society and a past member of the Board of Directors, he directed several free health drives for poor and un-insured people. They have raised campaign funds at my house for Congresswomen Dianne Watson and Maxine Waters, State Assembly Speakers Willy Brown (his Igbo cultural symbols are still proudly displayed in his office) and Herb Wesson, County Supervisor Yvonne Burke. Igbo Community Involvement Igbo Cultural Association of Southern California is our umbrella organization in this area. As an active member since his arrival in Los Angeles, he have help to raise the profile of Ndiigbo by introducing our people and culture to the greater American society. With his extensive contacts, he brought the Igbo community of Southern California into discussions with the Jewish community in an effort towards increasing our political, social and economic networks. The Igbo leadership was granted a free guided tour of the Museum of Tolerance (Holocuast Museum) by the Rabbi in charge of the facility. Several Nigerian trained medical doctors, nurses and other health care professionals have being sponsored by his companies over the years to grant them the privilege of settling in the U. S. A. Inglewood School Board employed several Igbo and Nigerian teachers based on his contacts with the Board. As President of ASA-World, he will bring the same network of friends and business partners to enhance the work of the association. In December, 1993, a group of them met several times to strategize on how to bring Ndi-igbo back into political relevance and respectability in Nigeria. They therefore scheduled regular meetings which eventually crystallized into the formation of Igbo USA in Los Angeles in 1994 and he was elected as the founding President. About the same period, a group of noble Igbo patriots were also meeting in Houston, Texas on similar Igbo issues. We finally linked the two groups and enhanced our discussions about Igbo revival. This new coalition opened contacts with many other Igbo activists in various major cities in the U. S. A. After several telephone conference calls, we settled on a date for the first national meeting of USA Igbo leaders and we selected Houston as our meeting site. This conference in Houston gave birth to World Igbo Congress (WIC) and he was elected as the founding Vice Chairman. Prior to this, IgboUSA hosted a town Hall meeting with Dr. Alex Ekwueme under my leadership to discuss the crisis in the Nigeria and provided our recommendations to the Nigerian constitutional conference. When Rev. Jesse Jackson scheduled his travel to Nigeria to mediate between Abacha and Abiola, he contacted him to make sure that a meeting was also scheduled with Igbo leaders who were being shut out of these negotiations. After his service on the Board of WIC, a group of Igbo activists invited me to join them in the establishment of an Igbo Think Tank named Enyimba NA. He became the founding Chairman in 1997 and continues to serve in various capacities since then including Chairman of Igbo World Assembly (IWA) and Council of Igbo States (CISA). ASA-USA and ASA-World benefited from his extensive network of friends in the upper class of Igbo leadership. He has personal direct contact with individuals like Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Dr. Ikejiani, Dr. Ezeife, Dr. Chris Ngige, Dr Ikedife and Governor Peter Obi.