Associate Deans
Priscilla O. Okunji, PhD, CRNP, FNP-BC, FIMC is a Tenured Full Professor and Family Nurse Practitioner who serves as Interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Administration in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences at Howard University.
Dr. Okunji earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in nursing and informatics, with a minor in nursing leadership, from the University of Maryland and received her PhD in Health Sciences with a concentration in International Health Education and Research from Trident International University, California.
With more than three decades of experience in nursing education, clinical practice, leadership, and health informatics, Dr. Okunji is recognized for her commitment to academic excellence, faculty development, and student success. She teaches across undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs and has mentored students and faculty in scholarship, research, and career advancement. As Chair of the College Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure (APT) Committee, she provides leadership in faculty evaluation, promotion, and professional development.
Dr. Okunji previously served as the Co-Chair for the HU Online and Coordinator of Howard University's online RN-to-BSN Program, where she led program development, curriculum implementation, and student support initiatives that contributed to successful program growth and a 10-year CCNE accreditation in 2015.
Her research focuses on nursing informatics, artificial intelligence, health equity, workforce development, and the use of electronic health records to improve education and patient outcomes. She has served as Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, and Co-Investigator on numerous federally funded projects, including grants supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research.
A prolific scholar, Dr. Okunji has published more than 60 scholarly works, including five book chapters and a nursing informatics textbook. Her contributions have been recognized through numerous honors, including the Howard University President's Medal of Achievement, the Graduate School Medal for Teaching Excellence, the NIH PRIDE Scholar Award, the Faculty Senate Emerging Scholar Award and the prestigious Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants International (FIMC).
Dr. Okunji's leadership philosophy is grounded in transparency, collaboration, mentorship, and empowerment, fostering excellence in education, research, service, and healthcare innovation.
Thomas V. Fungwe, Ph.D., CFS, FACN, is currently associate dean for Research, Institutional Assessment & Operations. He formerly served as chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Fungwe has a combined total of over 30 years of teaching at the college and university level. He had a 7-year career with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy as a Nutritionist and functioned as a Program Analyst, Nutrition Evidence Analyst.
Fungwe is a recipient of a USDA Award in recognition of his service and contribution to the enhancement of the development and promotion of dietary guidance that links the best evidence-based scientific research and education, 2010 and 2015. His doctoral dissertation featured prominently in the setting of the “UL” for molybdenum by the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and similar institutions in two continents. Fungwe held faculty appointments at the College of Medicine, Univ. of Tennessee HSC; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Univ. of North Texas HSC; and Wayne State University. He holds the credentials of “Certified Food Scientist” by the International Food Science Certification Commission of the Institute for Food Technologist, and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. Prior to joining the USDA, Fungwe was Associate Professor and interim Chair of Nutrition at Alcorn State University in Mississippi. He was associate project director to the USDA Lower Mississippi Delta Nutrition Intervention Research Initiative (Delta NIRI), a multidisciplinary team of researchers from key universities in the region and Pennington Biomedical Research Center, involved with obesity, diabetes and hypertension prevention, using the community-based participatory research approach. Fungwe has been Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator to federal and industry funded grants.
Fungwe has authored or co-authored over 50 scientific publications in areas covering food science, inflammation, toxicology, lipid metabolism, nutrient-gene interaction, diabetes, heart disease and obesity prevention. As a professor and research, he supervised thesis and dissertations. Fungwe continuous to be active in Research, Study panels, including the National Institute of General Medical Sciences-Special Emphasis Panel, the National Science Foundation-Graduate Research Fellowship Program, USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture Higher Education Challenge (HEC) Grants Panelist. His current research interest is in the application of nutrigenomics in personalized/precision Nutrition in the prevention of chronic diseases. He is involved with editorial activity for several Journals including Journal of Nutrition, Nutritional Biochem, Journal of Lipids, Journal of Lipid Research, Biochim Biophysica Acta, International Journal of Nutrition and Food Science, Food Quality, Hormone and Metabolic Research, and the Journal of General Internal Medicine and is on the editorial board of Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal.
He holds current memberships in several scientific organizations, including the American Society for Nutrition, Association of African Biomedical Scientists (Board Member and National Treasurer), and Institute of Food Technologists. He has been associated with include the American Heart Association (Atherosclerosis Council and Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism Council), Association for Black Cardiologist, and Association for Lipids & Atherosclerosis Research.