Dr. Onukwugha is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research (PHSR) at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and is the Executive Director for the Pharmaceutical Research Computing center in the PHSR Department.  She received a bachelor of arts in economics and French from the University at Albany, State University of New York, a master of science in agricultural and applied economics as well as a doctorate in economics (concentration: econometrics) from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).

Dr. Onukwugha completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacoeconomics at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy.  In year 2, her post-doctoral research was funded by the PhRMA Foundation through its Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program in Health Outcomes. 

Dr. Onukwugha’s research interests are in pharmacoeconomic analyses, health disparities, and medical decision-making by individuals and institutions.  Her research on the costs and causes of discharges against medical advice was supported by a K12 grant (1K12RR023250-01).   Using quantitative and qualitative methods, she examines the costs and outcomes associated with health-related decisions as well as the institutional and environmental context framing individuals’ health-related decisions.  The health-related decisions of particular interest include medication compliance, compliance with hospital discharge instructions, and compliance with treatment guidelines in the oncology and cardiovascular disease settings. Her research on cost-effectiveness and regression modeling has received Contributed Research Awards at international conferences sponsored by the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research.  Dr. Onukwugha’s research has been published in journals such as Cancer, Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations, JCO: Clinical Cancer Informatics, PharmacoEconomics, Value in Health,  Medical Care, Journal of Oncology Practice, and Medical Decision Making.