It was life’s twists and turns that led Ngozi Iroanyah (MA ’17) to pursue research dedicated to improving the health status of Black communities . And it’s her passion for creating positive change for Black people living with dementia that has fuelled years of study on the topic.
“I’m always hoping that we can destigmatize conversations around dementia, and I’m always hoping that we can push for more social understanding,” says Ngozi, who is currently completing her PhD in Health Equity and Policy Studies at York. “it’s a horrible disease, and there’s a lot of social exclusion as a result of the disease. My hope is that within the Black community, we can talk about it more.”
Ngozi began her educational journey at Ottawa U on a path to medical school. But after her mother passed away unexpectedly, she shifted into political science, looking at the politics of health and health policy. After earning her degree at the University of Toronto, she spent a year doing a volunteer health placement in Tanzania, where she simultaneously began her Masters at York, examining international policy and how it impacted HIV transmission rates in the country.
Following her masters, she set out to do a PhD in federal and provincial policy in Indigenous health, but life intervened once again. Her father, who had been diagnosed with dementia in 2008, began to have worsening symptoms, creating more strain on the family. Her father’s worsening condition compelled Ngozi to shift her PhD focus to dementia, both for him and for herself.
Her PhD focuses on dementia policy and its impact on the experiences of Black older adults with dementia in Toronto, looking at the ways in which Blackness or Black identity combined with other factors – like gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and ethnic background – play a role in the dementia journey.
“Dementia does not discriminate, at all,” says Ngozi. “However, the way dementia is experienced can be discriminatory. For example, studies in the US and the UK have shown that dementia affects Black populations more. Black populations (have a higher rate) of dementia, develop dementia at a younger age and get diagnosed later in life. This does not appear do stem from biological or genetic factors but rather the distribution of the social determinants of health.
She hopes that her research will be used to inform how policy makers, community programmers and developers can support the different identities within the Black population experiencing dementia.
York’s reputation as a progressive university that stood for the rights of people is what drew Ngozi to the university. During her years here, she’s been involved with both the Centre for Refugee Studies and the Harriet Tubman Institute.
“Those centres taught me about folks who were really sit at the margins, and what our systems and institutions in society do with folks at the margins,” she says.
Ultimately, Ngozi hopes her work will help those people, and people like her father, who is now in the final stages of his battle with dementia.
“When I’m done, I probably will continue teaching. It’s always nice to get the next generation thinking about these things to be better stewards of our society. I will continue to do research; I love research, it’s my heart. And I think I’ll be stronger in advocacy and do more advocacy work,” she says. “I hope my work can help bring the conversations to the table more, I hope it can spur program and policy makers to be more attentive, and (for) our programs and services to be more inclusive.”