Adaure Iwuh, a fourth-year public health student in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Irvin D. Reid Honors College, is among 60 students from around the nation selected as 2024 Harry S. Truman Scholars. She is the first Wayne State student to win a Truman Scholarship and this year’s only recipient from a Michigan college or university.

The Truman Scholarship was established by Congress in 1975 as a living memorial to President Harry S. Truman and a national monument to public service. The Truman Scholarship is one of the highly competitive, national student honorifics that marks the highest caliber of student academic excellence and achievement. Each year, the Truman Scholarship provides financial support for graduate study and leadership training to 60 students. Iwuh was selected from 709 candidates nominated by 285 colleges and universities.

Iwuh moved to Detroit in 2020 after completing training as a nursing and midwifery technician in Malawi, Africa. She is on track to graduate this December with a bachelor of science in public health and a minor in biology. She wants to help shape U.S. public health policies, particularly by improving preterm birth and maternal mortality rates, which are alarmingly high and outpacing those in all other high-income countries. “I am passionate about addressing maternal mortality and morbidity,” Iwuh said. “It was unfortunate to see that in rural areas but to move to the U.S. and see the statistics about maternal mortality and how it’s disparately affecting some populations, especially African American women, I was shocked, to say the least, and inspired to do something about it, especially here in Detroit.” Read more...