Distinguished Alumni Award

A health care executive who served in the White House, Adaeze Enekwechi (98BA, 07PhD) is widely admired for tackling complex policy challenges and studying how the health system can work for everyone, particularly vulnerable populations.

From 2015 to the end of the Obama administration, Adaeze was the White House's associate director for health programs in the Office of Management and Budget, where she oversaw a health budget of more than $1 trillion. Holding what's been described as the government's most important health post, Adaeze was a key policy advisor to President Obama and worked with Congress and the executive branch to implement the federal budget.

Although she was less than a decade removed from earning her doctorate from the UI College of Public Health, Adaeze was well-equipped for the high-profile position. She began her career as an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office after completing her master's degree in public policy at another institution. She returned to the University of Iowa to obtain her doctoral degree and went on to work at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, after which she became the associate director for innovation and new product development at Joint Commission Resources in Illinois.

"Adaeze worked in the White House with integrity and calm in an intense and sometimes difficult environment."

Adaeze then became a senior researcher for Health Research and Educational Trust, a Chicago-based arm of the American Hospital Association. In 2010, she moved to Washington to work in health care policy. There, she was a senior analyst for the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the first senior program officer at the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and a managing consultant at the Lewin Group, where she led several payment policy evaluation and research projects for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Since leaving the White House, Adaeze has returned to the consulting world. She's currently president of IMPAQ International, a $100 million policy research and technology firm in the Washington, D.C., area that helps governments, businesses, foundations, nonprofits, and universities enhance their programs and policies. She also is a member of the National Academy of Medicine's Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine group, and she serves on the Board of Public Health Institute and other advisory boards.

"Adaeze worked in the White House with integrity and calm in an intense and sometimes difficult environment," says Shaun Donovan, former director of the Office of Management and Budget. "I never saw her lose her cool despite enormous stakes, and her intelligence and knowledge always made a difference."