Chudy Nduaka & Africa Education Initiative

Chudy Nduaka, the director of clinical development at the Africa Education Initiative, dedicated his life to improving health after seeing his parents suffer in a small Nigerian community.

"When I lost them due to the poor health care in that community," he said. "I really decided that I was going to do something about that." And what he does is help formulate strategies for developing drugs "for the doctors who prescribe it and the communities who value it."

"It's important that people know that there are people like me and my colleagues who actually are the ones that develop these medicines," Nduaka added.

He said the Africa Education Initiative, with funding support from Pfizer, gives children access to health care and good science education. The initiative's efforts include an internship program in toxicology and a public health program that provides medicines to needy communities.

"Using these programs, we'll be able to touch the lives of many children in Africa," Nduaka said.