Onye Nnorom

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Early Life

Onye Nnorom is the older of two children born to immigrants who settled in Montreal in the 1970s. Eugene and the late Patricia Nnorom migrated from Nigeria and Trinidad and Tobago, respectively. (See also African Canadians; Caribbean Canadians.) Eugene was a maintenance worker and Patricia, who died in 2023, was a secretary and personal support worker.

Though not activists, the couple was very engaged in the community and their children’s education. When Onye Nnorom was in Grade Two, a teacher assumed she was a below-level student. Nnorom’s mother stepped in to make it clear that was not the case.

Nnorom became interested in science at a summer camp for gifted students in Grade Four.

Education

Onye Nnorom graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Science in cell and molecular biology in 2003. Her interest in medicine began in the second year of her degree. That year, she participated in a mentorship program established by Dr. Eric Laryea. Laryea had noticed the consistent under-representation of Black students at McGill University. His program paired aspiring Black medical students with those already enrolled in medical school.

“Though I was a reluctant recruit, I saw other Black medical students and that was what changed it for me,” Nnorom shared with Ron Fanfair in a 2021 interview.

Among the Black medical students, she met was Ewurabena Simpson. The future pediatric hematologist and oncologist was in her first year of medical school at McGill University.

“I remember meeting her and telling myself, ‘I can do this,’” Nnorom recounted to Ron Fanfair. “I had the grades and background, and so I applied to do medicine.”

Nnorom completed her medical degree at McGill University in 2007. Three years later, she finished a Master of Public Health (Epidemiology) and residency training at the University of Toronto.

Career

In 2010, Nnorom was a temporary family physician with a community health centre in Toronto called Women’s Health in Women’s Hands. In 2012, she held a similar position at NorWest Community Health Centre in Thunder Bay. From 2013 to 2018, she was a family physician and chronic disease prevention lead at TAIBU Community Health Centre in Toronto. (See also General Practice Medicine.) During this period, she also worked as a regional lead with Cancer Care Ontario. At this agency, she guided primary care physicians on cancer screening and cancer care.

In 2013, Nnorom became an associate program director at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. In this role she co-led the school’s residency program in public health and preventive medicine.

She was also a clinical consultant at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Nicotine Dependence Clinic.

In 2025, Nnorom was appointed the associate chief medical officer of health for the province of Ontario. In this role she will provide medical leadership and advice on public health, including policy development. Nnorom is the first Black person to hold this position, which includes a special focus on Black health, a first for a public health official in Canada.

Focus on Health Equity and Systemic Racism

Onye Nnorom’s work focuses on health equity and the impact of racism on health. In particular, she studies anti-Black racism as a driver of health inequities in Canada. Nnorom has led efforts to build education on these issues through medical school curriculum and digital initiatives.

Nnorom was appointed the first ever equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) lead of the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine. From 2019 to 2022, she advised the department’s executive on policies that impact EDI for faculty, residents, students and staff.

Nnorom also created and hosted the podcast Race, Health & Happiness from 2020 to 2024. She launched the show to help racialized people stay well, thrive and find joy. Its first season coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which disproportionately affected Black and other racialized peoples.

“We knew the pandemic wasn’t going to be a great equalizer and was going to devastate the Black community,” she said to Ron Fanfair in 2021. “We know that we are the people who tend to be front line. We are the people who are the personal support workers. We are the people doing precarious work and getting sick. We are the people living in multi-generational homes [who] can’t self isolate. And we bear the brunt of chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes, all of which have their roots in systemic racism.”

Nnorom is also the creator and host of Healthcaring Differently, a social media outreach initiative that encourages youth from diverse backgrounds to learn about and pursue careers in medicine and healthcare.

Organizational Involvement

Onye Nnorom was the president of the Black Physicians’ Association of Ontario (BPAO), an organization that aims to eliminate racial inequity and increase the number of Black physicians in medicine. She also co-founded the Black Health Education Collaborative. This group of scholars builds curricula on the effects of anti-Black racism on health. From 2011 to 2014, she was a board member of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre.

Personal Life and Family

Onye Nnorom has two sons. Her brother, Ebere Nnorom, is a youth program co-ordinator with the Boys & Girls Club of East Scarborough. (See Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada.) He is also the host of the podcast, Black Nerds Talk.

Nnorom is a volunteer instructor of the Zumba fitness program.

Honours and Awards

• Honouree, Women of Purpose Awards, Elegant You Tea Party (2019)
• Named one of Best Health Magazine’s Women of the Year (2020)