Nkem Okeke

Nkem Okeke, MD, MPH, MBA, MSPM

Faculty Affiliate

Nkem Okeke is an award-winning kaizen entrepreneur, physician executive, and transformation strategist with a successful career spanning over two decades. Drawing from years of intercontinental and multi-disciplinary experience in the health care industry, she founded Medicalincs, a population health management and health care transformation firm. Medicalincs was founded to solve care-continuum fragmentation in the ambulatory health care system, by linking silos to sustain health care systems that save lives. Currently, through Medicalincs, Okeke and her team advise and support health care leaders and organizations on strategic solutions to enhance implementation framework strategy, improve operational efficiencies and outcomes, and increase revenue volume/revenue streams. Although Okeke began and enjoyed her career in clinical practice, she decided to take an unconventional path that combines her love for equitable, patient-centered care delivery and her passion for bringing rippled-value to others. She expanded her career into health care business administration and public health.

Okeke’s broad experience in work and life (spanning health care to business, IT, culture, and beyond) brings a unique 360-degree value-add perspective, and tailored toolkit to help clients at any growth/improvement stage succeed. Over the years, she has delivered multi-million-dollar cost savings and improved population health outcomes for thousands of lives. Prior to founding her company, she has held leadership positions notably at Kaiser Permanente, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Johns Hopkins. She is also the founder of three other companies—Healthlincs, Coordinate, and Consociator. She is a recipient of 3 global awards in entrepreneurship and health care transformation. She currently serves on a number of boards and advisory councils including:

  • Maryland Health Care Commission Advisory Council member on Primary Care Transformation (appointed by the Maryland Secretary of Health)
  • Board member of Black Women's Health Imperative
  • Board member of Lasell Village
  • Member of the Forbes Business Council
  • Leadership member of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee at Women Business Leaders Health care (WBL)
  • Senior advisor to the CEO at Priority Partners (Johns Hopkins Health care) on board priorities

Okeke obtained her medical degree from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, and completed her training at KorleBu Teaching Hospital, University of Ghana as a Family (General) Practice Physician. She obtained triple-master’s degrees in business administration, Project Management and Public Health (from George Washington University and Tulane University). She also completed her fellowship in Clinical Data Analytics, at Johns Hopkins University, MD; and certified in Project Management (PMI), Lean Six Sigma (Johns Hopkins), and Change Management (Prosci).

Okeke now also serves as a Value-Based Expert Affiliate of the HMS Center for Primary Care, to support its mission to strengthen health care through the transformation of systems, teams, and leaders.

She draws inspiration as a mother of 3 lovely daughters, and from her sticking to her core values that make her “THICK” (Trust, Heart, Innovation, Commitment, and Kaizen).