Jerry John Ouner (né Nutor), PhD, is an associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco. A nurse scientist trained in Ghana and the United States, he works with nurses and other healthcare professionals in multiple African countries, and is a 2023 Fellow of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program. He has held several leadership positions and has advocated for the nursing profession throughout his training and career in both countries. His passion for global health and nursing advocacy prepared him to represent Sigma at the United Nations.
Dr. Ouner is passionate about collaboration between scholars and researchers working in Africa and North America. He founded the Africa Interdisciplinary Health Conference (AfIHC), where he serves as secretary general, to give healthcare professionals in clinical, academic and research settings a platform to discuss their findings and promote evidence-based practice in Africa’s health sector. His awards and recognitions reflect his contributions to nursing, global health and interdisciplinary collaboration.
His research centres on global health, specifically maternal and child health and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. He also studies how environmental, social and economic factors affect the health of women and children, with a particular focus on HIV/AIDS in low-resource countries and among minority populations in the United States. He has published extensively in high-impact journals and mentors nurses and other healthcare professionals across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.
Dr. Ouner is a registered nurse with a PhD in Nursing Science from Drexel University and postdoctoral training in Global Health and Health Policy from Princeton University. He holds a Master of Science in Nursing and Health-Care Leadership from the University of California, Davis, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.