Dr. Onyinye Iweala is an Allergist and Immunologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She directs the UNC Allergy Mast Cell Disorders Program. Dr. Iweala earned her MD and PhD in Experimental Pathology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, followed by her fellowship in Allergy and Immunology at UNC in Chapel Hill. Dr. Iweala is board-certified in Internal Medicine by the American Board of Internal Medicine and in Allergy and Immunology by the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
Dr. Iweala is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, and received the 2020 AAAAI Foundation Faculty Development Award and multiple Carolina Care Excellence Awards. Her NIH-funded research examines mast cell activation and anaphylaxis, including in alpha-gal syndrome, epigenetic regulation of allergic responses, and approaches to improving the diagnosis and management of mast cell disorders. Her work also explores how gastrointestinal and external parasites influence immune responses. She is affiliated with the UNC Food Allergy Initiative, the UNC Children’s Research Institute, and the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center.
Dr. Iweala is married and has three children. Outside of work, she enjoys singing, especially a cappella music, dancing, running, and high-intensity interval training.