Osaremen Fortune Okolo
Research Interests: history of public health; history of medicine; United States history; contemporary health policy; sociopolitical studies; racial health disparities; reproductive justice.
Osaremen is a doctoral candidate in the Department of the History of Science and Presidential Scholar at Harvard University.
Osaremen's dissertation project, a comprehensive historical study of the United States pharmacy, follows the Black drugstore from the early 20th to early 21st century as a lens to explore the transformation of the broader institution: from independent shops to corporate chains--the rise and fall of the "public health pharmacy"--and the pharmacy deserts that followed.
Osaremen Okolo served as Policy Advisor for Public Health and Equity in the White House Office of the COVID-19 Response from January 20, 2021 through August 2022. Prior to the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Osaremen translated campaign promises into strategic implementation plans while working on the Domestic Policy Team of the Biden-Harris Transition. She was recruited to join the Transition after several years specializing in health policy on Capitol Hill—first as Ranking Member Patty Murray’s Legislative Aide for Health Policy on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and later as Senior Health Policy Advisor for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
Presentations:
"Contesting Life and Liberty in New Landscapes: A Reconceptualization of Public Health during the First Great Migration in the United States," Session Organizer and Presenter ("The Pharmacy in the Segregated City"), History of Science Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, November 2025.
"Ahistoric Administration: The Crisis of Historical Expertise in U.S. Health Policymaking, Politics, and Emergency Response," Organizer and Panelist, American Association for the History of Medicine 100th Anniversary Meeting, Boston, MA, May 2025.
Fireside Chat with Jeff Zients, 31st White House Chief of Staff and White House Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response, Harvard College Conversations with Kirkland and the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA, April 2025.
Graduate Student Workshop, American Society for Legal History, August 2024.
Opening Panel featuring Professors Evelynn Hammonds, Safiya Noble, Latanya Sweeney (Moderator), Outbraving Summit, Cambridge, MA, June 2024.
Fireside Chat with Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, Harvard College Conversations with Kirkland and the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA, March 2024.
“Abundant Black Health,” Panelist, Harvard Kennedy School 18th Annual Black Policy Conference, Cambridge, MA, April 2023.
“Mitigation of Pandemic Effects on Children," Keynote, WA State Academy of Sciences 15th Annual Symposium, October 2022.
Keynote Address, Milton Academy Black History Month All-School Assembly, Milton, MA, February 2022.
"People Over Profits: Using Law & Policy to Ensure Coronavirus Vaccine Equity," Panelist, American Constitution Society, June 2020.
Previous Degrees:
AB, History of Science and African & African-American Studies (Secondary in Global Health and Health Policy), Harvard College