University of California, Riverside

At UCR, the Health Impact Hub is a student-led, interdisciplinary community that spans undergraduate and graduate students, connecting health, policy, and practice through concrete advocacy, research, education, and community-impact work.

Team

A woman with braided hair, glasses, and a dark blazer sitting inside a modern cafe or restaurant, smiling at the camera. There are other people in the background, and large windows letting in natural light.

  • Paula Omokhomion is a Master of Public Policy student and Dean’s Ambassador at UC

    Riverside, as well as the School of Public Policy (SPP) Chair for Health Impact Hub. In this

    role, she supports the chair and leadership team in decision-making and event planning, and

    manages HIH’s podcast and social media. Paula holds a BS in Public Health Nutrition with

    double minors in Sociology and Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel

    Hill. She plans to pursue a doctorate in public health to start a career in academia. Her interests

    in improving health services in low-resource settings and in better integrating social protection

    programs with clinical services align with HIH’s mission to bridge the gap between clinical

    practitioners and the lived impact of policy on health outcomes. She’s also interested in

    evaluating health programming grants and is developing these skills as a Development and

    Operations Associate at the Government Accountability Project. Paula also writes fiction in her

    spare time and is a two-time published author. She contributes to the UCR Highlander Fiction

    column.

    Website: www.paulaomokhomion.com

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paula-omokhomion/

A man dressed in a light gray suit and white shirt, smiling outdoors with a blurred green background.

  • Emmanuel Scaife is a medical student at the UC Riverside School of Medicine with a deep commitment to health equity, systems-level leadership, and community-centered care. He currently serves as Co-President of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), Co-President of the Emergency Medicine Interest Group (EMIG), and Vice Chair of the Health Impact Hub, roles through which he engages policy, advocacy, and medical education to confront the structural forces that shape health disparities.

    Emmanuel’s approach to leadership is rooted in lived experience and sustained community engagement. As a PRIME Scholar, he is trained to serve African, Black, and Caribbean communities in Inland Southern California and has contributed to initiative addressing maternal health, chronic disease education, and patient self-advocacy.

    Across these spaces, he prioritizes culturally competent communication, relationship-building, and empowering patients to navigate complex healthcare systems with confidence and agency.

    His academic interests reflect a commitment to translating lived realities into policy- relevant work. Emmanuel has contributed to national conversations in emergency medicine and health policy through writing featured in SAEM Pulse and participation in the EMRA PolicyRx Journal Club, where he has examined public health ethics, policy reform, and disparities in emergency care. His scholarly interests include health misinformation, prehospital policy, and the role of physician leadership in shaping more equitable systems of care.

    Through the Healthcare Leadership Designated Emphasis, Emmanuel aims to further develop the skills necessary to lead within academic medicine, public health, and healthcare organizations. He is particularly interested in how physicians can influence policy, strengthen institutional accountability, and translate community-identified needs into sustainable, systems-level change.

Contact Us