When I decided to pursue a Doctor of Health Sciences (DHSc) degree with a concentration in Global Health at A.T. Still University’s College of Graduate Health Studies (ATSU-CGHS), I wasn't simply looking for another degree or credential. I was looking for a voice. I already knew that I wanted to use my voice to advocate for people whose voices were often unheard, particularly those living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the country where I grew up, Nigeria. But I did not yet know how deeply that desire would grow or where it would ultimately lead me.

Growing up in Nigeria, I witnessed what happens when access to healthcare, resources, education, and specialized healthcare professionals is limited. Those experiences stayed with me. They shaped how I see healthcare and, eventually, the kind of respiratory therapist I wanted to become.

For more than 12 years, I have cared for people living with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in both clinical and community settings. I have led an asthma and COPD clinic, worked alongside pulmonary physicians to educate patients and improve disease management, and served as a COPD navigator, helping patients transition home after hospitalization and reduce readmission risk.

I love clinical care. I believe deeply in showing up for the person in front of me. My guiding belief has always been: There are lives dependent on my skills, gifts, talents, and expertise. I cannot let them down. So, I show up daily for them.

But over time, I realized that showing up for one patient at a time was not enough. Millions of people were beyond my reach from the bedside. There were communities without the respiratory care workforce they needed. There were healthcare professionals who wanted to help but lacked the training and resources to do so. There were patients who struggled to access basic respiratory care, and there were systems and policies that needed people willing to speak up for change.

That realization was part of what led me to pursue my DHSc. I wanted to understand global health beyond the individual patient encounter. I wanted to learn how health systems, policy, education, advocacy, and social determinants of health intersect and, more importantly, how I could use that knowledge to create change.

Then I took a course that changed something in me. Global Health Issues opened my eyes to the scale and complexity of health inequities around the world. As I learned about the forces that shape health outcomes across countries and communities, I began connecting what I was learning to what I had witnessed growing up in Nigeria and what I had experienced throughout my career.

Something clicked. It felt as though the course unlocked a fire that had already been burning inside me. I began to see more clearly that the inequities I had witnessed were not isolated problems. They were connected to systems, policies, workforce capacity, access to resources, and decisions about whose needs are prioritized. I realized that my clinical experience gave me an important perspective, but I could not stop there. If I truly wanted to make a difference, I needed to understand the systems behind the problems and find ways to influence them.

That course helped me see my own experiences differently. What I had lived through in Nigeria, what I had witnessed as a respiratory therapist, and what I was learning in the classroom were no longer separate pieces. They were coming together into a purpose. I began to understand that my voice could be more than a voice advocating for an individual patient. It could be a voice advocating for communities, healthcare professionals, stronger health systems, and people who are too often left out of decisions that affect their lives. That was the moment my vision became bigger.

My DHSc journey gave me more than academic knowledge. It gave me language for the questions I had been carrying for years and, ultimately, the confidence to do something about them.

After completing my doctoral degree, I began putting that knowledge into action. I became the Director of Advocacy and Policy for the Africa Respiratory Care Association (ARCA), where I work to advance the respiratory therapy profession across Africa. Despite the significant burden of respiratory disease across the continent, respiratory therapy remains largely unavailable as an established profession in many African countries.

My work with ARCA focuses on changing that reality by advocating for the recognition, development, education, and integration of respiratory therapy into African health systems. My goal is to help build a sustainable respiratory care workforce capable of meeting the needs of the people who need it most. My work has also taken me to the global policy level. I was honored to be selected by the World Health Organization as a member of the COPD Guideline Development Group (GDG), contributing to the development of evidence-based COPD guidance intended to improve care and outcomes for people living with COPD around the world.

That opportunity has been particularly meaningful to me because it represents what I hoped my doctoral education would help me become: not simply a healthcare professional who understands the problems, but a professional who can sit at the table where solutions are discussed and advocate for people who are not always represented there.

In addition, I recently founded Global Asthma and COPD Outreach, Inc. (GACO), an organization created to help bridge the gap between knowledge and need, compassion and action. Through GACO, my vision is to improve the lives of individuals affected by asthma and COPD, particularly in LMICs and underserved regions, through education, prevention, access to care, and advocacy. GACO is about meeting people where they are: in their homes, clinics, schools, and communities, and empowering them with the knowledge, care, and support they need to breathe easier. As resources become available, GACO will also work to help individuals who cannot afford their medications access the inhalers they need, because breathing should never be a luxury. Learn more about GACO at: www.gacoglobal.org.

Looking back, I realize that earning my DHSc was never the destination. It was preparation. It prepared me to move from caring for individual patients to advocating for populations. It helped me find the confidence to use my voice in rooms where important decisions are made. It gave me tools to connect clinical experience with policy, workforce development, and global health. But perhaps most importantly, the program helped me discover the full extent of what I was called to do.

I grew up in a country where I saw what happens when people do not have adequate access to healthcare. Today, I have the privilege and responsibility to work toward changing that reality, particularly across Africa and other underserved parts of the world. I pursued my doctorate because I wanted to be part of the change. I wanted to be heard, not for myself, but so I could better advocate for those who are not always able to speak for themselves. And somewhere along the way, Global Health Issues unlocked a fire in me that I could no longer ignore. That fire continues to guide my work today.

Through advocacy, policy, and GACO, I am committed to helping build a world where access to respiratory health is not determined by geography or circumstance because breathing should never be a luxury. I will keep showing up until more people have the opportunity to breathe easier.