Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is a nationally recognized leader who works on transformative projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that minority children and children from low-income households, especially Black children, are thriving. Dr. Iruka brings an intersectional approach to her work where anti-bias, anti-racist, culturally grounded research directly has an impact on program development and delivery, and policy. Some focus areas include family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education system and programs.

Dr. Iruka is Research Professor in the Department of Public Policy, a Fellow at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), and the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at FPG at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Iruka serves on numerous national and local boards and committees, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the American Psychological Association’s Board of Educational Affairs, Brady Education Foundation, and Trust for Learning. In addition to being on the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau, Dr. Iruka is a Census Advisor for the National Urban League.

She has a B.A. in Psychology from Temple University, an M.A. in Psychology from Boston University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in applied developmental psychology from the University of Miami, FL.