“I chose this program because it grants me the opportunity to provide comprehensive care to more people in my community. I am passionate about caring for underserved members of our community, especially women and children of color.”

A native of Cameroon, Bola Okpue is currently a doctoral student of nursing practice. Bola immigrated to the U.S. with her siblings when she was only fifteen. Despite linguistic and cultural barriers, she graduated at the top of her high school class, and she was admitted to Michigan State University’s clinical laboratory sciences program. At MSU, Bola was an active member of the African Student Union and the Medical Technology student club, and she volunteered every summer at Sparrow Hospital and McLaren Hospital in Lansing. In her senior year, Bola interned at Covance, a medical research company, and presented her research at the company headquarters in Indianapolis.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory sciences, Bola worked as a medical technologist at Alverno Clinical Labs, where she excelled as an employee who consistently took on extra responsibilities. In 2015, she took a managerial role as a medical technologist group lead at Trinity Health Livonia Hospital. While working, Bola also started a family and now has three children.

In 2022, Bola entered an accelerated nursing degree program at Oakland University while working and caring for her children full-time, and this fall, she entered the doctor of nursing practice program at the University of Michigan. Bola will specialize in nurse-midwifery and family primary care. Her native Cameroon and neighboring countries have limited access to midwives trained in current practices, and Bola hopes to one day educate other nurses on outreach trips to the region. She writes, “I chose this program because it grants me the opportunity to provide comprehensive care to more people in my community. I am passionate about caring for underserved members of our community, especially women and children of color.” 

CEW+ commends Bola’s tenacity and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.