N.C. A&T Appoints Ongeri Interim Hairston College Dean

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Sept. 15, 2021) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University announced Elimelda Moige Ongeri, Ph.D., has been appointed interim dean of the John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences, effective Oct. 1. She succeeds Lenora Campbell, Ph.D., who is retiring after leading the Hairston College for five years.

A professor of physiology in the Hairston College Department of Kinesiology, Ongeri has served as the college’s associate dean for research and innovation since January 2020. As interim dean, she will provide oversight for its 10 undergraduate degrees, School of Nursing, and Joint Master  and Ph.D. programs in social work with the University of North Carolina Greensboro. Prior to joining the College of Health and Human Sciences, Ongeri was in the Department of Biology at the College of Science and Technology where she started as assistant professor in 2010 and rose through the ranks to full professor in 2017.

“Dr. Ongeri has helped develop and implement the Hairston College’s vision and research agenda in her associate dean role,” said Provost Beryl McEwen, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “She has identified external funding opportunities, supported the development of grant proposals and graduate programs, and enhanced the research infrastructure that delivers the educational excellence for which the college is known.”

Since 2019, Ongeri has served as a co-director of the North Carolina Regional Diabetes Research Center (NCDRC) – a consortium made up of N.C. A&T, Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wake Forest School of Medicine and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – and director of the NCDRC Enrichment/Community Engagement Core.

Under its Maximizing Investigator Research Award mechanism, the NIH in June awarded Ongeri $1.74 million research grant to study diabetic kidney disease. She has received uninterrupted NIH grant funding for her research since 2012.

“I’m excited at the opportunity to work with the college leadership to fulfill N.C. A&T’s mission of training outstanding graduates,” said Ongeri. “The Hairston College has made great strides in advancing human subject research and working with communities in the state of North Carolina to alleviate health disparities and achieve health equity. My goal is to sustain the momentum and build on the gains made over the last five years.” 

Ongeri is affiliated with The Kidney Center and the North Carolina Nutrition Research Center, both at UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the American Society of Nephrology and of Women in Nephrology; a trainee mentor for the renal section of the American Physiological Society; treasurer and board member of the Mentoring Network for African Women in Academia; governing advisory board member of the Kenya Scholars and Studies Association; and oversight committee member, mentor and proposal reviewer for junior faculty in the Network of Minority Health Research Investigators.

Before joining A&T, Ongeri was a research associate and assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biology at Harrisburg Area Community College.

Ongeri received her B.S. in animal production from Egerton University, M.S. in comparative mammalian physiology from the University of Nairobi, M.S. in basic medical sciences and Ph.D. in animal physiology, both from Purdue University, and postdoctoral training from Penn State College of Medicine.