Dr. Chuka Emezue is an Assistant Professor and the John L. and Helen Kellogg Endowed Faculty Scholar in the Women, Children, and Family Nursing Department at RUSH University College of Nursing.
His research uses a biopsychosocial and community-engaged approach to address youth and family violence, mental health stressors, and early substance use among justice-involved, Black, and Latinx/Hispanic populations. His work increasingly bridges internal biology and external stress environments, examining how chronic adversity shapes the microbiota–gut–brain axis and stress-response systems, and how these physiological changes interact with structural stressors such as racism, food insecurity, community violence, and poverty.
Over the past five years, Dr. Emezue has developed two culturally grounded, technology-enabled interventions. BrotherlyACT is a mobile and web-based platform for young Black males that combines life skills coaching, pre-crisis mental health support, safety planning, and an AI-supported chatbot. FatherlyACT is a trauma-informed father–child dyadic program delivered in-person and online to strengthen healthy father–child relationships and reduce the impact of intimate partner and domestic violence on mothers and children.
His research has been funded by the NIH (NIH/NCATS ITM Pilot Award, NIMHD C3EN), the Cohn Family Foundation, the Rita & Alex Hillman Foundation, the Joyce Chapman Community Grant, and internal Rush mechanisms. Since 2021, he has published more than 25 peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters, delivered over 70 scholarly presentations, and contributed to national conversations through op-eds and media features in the Chicago Tribune, Ms. Magazine, NPR, and other outlets. He is also a former Contributor-in-Residence with the Synapsis Medical Humanities Journal.
Dr. Emezue founded the Technology and Adolescent Mental Health Internship (TAMI) Program, now in its third year, which has trained over 75 high school students across eight schools in community-based research and digital mental health, resulting in youth co-authored peer-reviewed publications; an uncommon model of authentic youth-engaged scholarship.
He holds a PhD in Nursing Science, MPH, and MPA from the University of Missouri–Columbia, and a BSc in Biochemistry from Niger Delta University, Nigeria. He is a 2023 Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project, an RBIHE Health Equity Scholar, and a Cohn Fellow.
NIH Commons: CHUKANE
Scopus ID: 57211685977
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-9805-4151