As the Baltimore City Health Department's Commissioner of Health, Dr. Ihuoma Emenuga joins BCHD with a wealth of experience, a proven track record of leadership, and an unwavering commitment to the health department's collective mission of enhancing public health and well-being. 

Dr. Emenuga is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician who has functioned in various capacities across Clinical Medicine, Public Health Program Management, Academia, and Healthcare Consulting, with a special focus on Health Economics and Health Financing. Her health care experience has spanned five different countries across three continents, while she has sought innovative ways to create a health care culture and public health environment which prioritizes sustainability, safety, and cost-effectiveness, while remaining sensitive to the human experience. She is dedicated to identifying initiatives which serve the underserved and provide access to health care for populations which present the greatest challenge to addressing health inequities. As a wife and mother, raising children across diverse cultures and languages, she has learned firsthand that solving unconventional problems demands the willingness to explore unconventional solutions.

She began her medical career as a Primary Care Physician in Cote d’Ivoire, where she served a large multilingual international community. She has served as a Consultant to the African Development Bank in Tunisia, and to the PATHS program in Nigeria funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID). As the National Technical Program Officer, she was responsible for the implementation and management of federal and cross-state programs such as the Drug Revolving Funds, Health Management Information Systems Development, Safety Net Designs, Safe Motherhood Initiative, Laboratory Systems Development, Support to Health Legislation and Support to Sector-wide Donor Coordination.

Here in Baltimore, Dr. Emenuga has served as a Medical Director in the Baltimore City Health Department’s Youth Wellness and Community Health Division where she was responsible for directing and overseeing clinical services provided in Baltimore City public schools and School-Based Health Centers. She has also served as a Medical Director for Chase Brexton Health Care, and Chief Medical Officer at both Park West Health System and Family Health Centers of Baltimore.

Most recently Dr. Emenuga has been the Managing Partner at Vie Health, a health care consulting firm with a vision of ‘health care that works for everyone’. In the role of Chief Medical and Clinical Operations Officer, Dr. Emenuga has provided clinical operations support to health care organizations enabling them to address the triple bottom line of healthcare productivity, patient experience and provider satisfaction.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan; her Medical Degree from the University of Nigeria; her Master of Science degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London; her Master of Business Administration from the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park; her Residency Fellowship in Health Policy from the George Washington University RFHP program; and her residency training in Internal Medicine at Howard University Hospital in Washington D.C where she served as Chief Resident, and later as the Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program.

Professional associations with which she is affiliated include the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH), the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), and the National Medical Association (NMA). She was selected as an NIH/NMA Fellow in 2015.