Associate Professor of Biostatistics and John & Carole Seffrin Endowed Professor of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health
Carmen D. Tekwe’s work centers on developing statistical methods to better understand how individuals respond to health interventions, specifically focusing on how individuals from different demographics and backgrounds respond differently to the same interventions. Her interest in how data intersects public health stems from her early days, when she used to watch her grandfather, a medical doctor. “He would wake at 4 a.m. every morning, even on weekends, to begin his day at the clinic,” Tekwe said. “His clinic was always full, and his influence on the community was enormous. I wanted to follow in his footsteps and give back to the community.”
Her parents were academics who moved to Nigeria for work despite being born and raised in Benin, so Tekwe lived in Nigeria until she was 12, exposed to multiple cultures and languages. Her experiences in Benin and Nigeria, combined with Brazilian heritage on her mother’s side, influenced her view of the world. “I love connecting with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, and I bring this connection to my research,” Tekwe said.
Her plan was always to be a medical doctor, like her grandfather, and conduct research like her parents, but Tekwe found she had many other interests and talents once exposed to the wealth of opportunities beyond medicine. She explored the worlds of materials science and engineering, which led her to statistics and changed her path.
“Statistics just made sense to me, and I was fascinated by the fact that statistics could be applied to many different fields, including engineering and medicine,” Tekwe said. She earned her BS and MS in statistics, after which she worked as a biostatistician for clinical trials and other public health–related research.
Tekwe recognized more could be done to address statistical issues in public health, which drove her to earn her PhD in biostatistics. “When I defended my dissertation and was officially awarded my PhD, my father became so emotional that he could not stop crying, and I saw the pride that I felt in myself reflected in the eyes of my parents and my adviser,” she said.
When she learned her first R01 was successfully funded, Tekwe shared a similar moment with her husband, a pillar of support for her career. “We celebrated for weeks and have since been lucky enough to celebrate a second time when his first R01 was funded.”
Without her support system, Tekwe says she never could have made it as far as she did, and they remind her that every success requires an ardent team. She applies this knowledge to her research, building strong teams featuring diverse perspectives to achieve shared goals. She also tries to give back by mentoring individuals from diverse communities and contributing to research capacity–building efforts in Africa and Southeast Asia. “Though the path I have charted for myself is not the one I envisioned when watching my grandfather in his clinic, I continue to seek ways to give back to the community in all aspects of my research and life,” Tekwe said.
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