Zanita Akinkugbe ’27: Summer in Pictures   Zanita Akinkugbe '27 shares snapshots from her summer internship with Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center.

By Kelsey Goodwin
September 11, 2026

This summer, Zanita Akinkugbe ’27, a neuroscience major with minors in poverty and human capability studies and education policy, interned at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center with the Integrative Therapies Program in the pediatric oncology department. Working alongside doctors treating patients from age 7 through young adulthood, she developed patient-facing education materials on complementary therapies like acupuncture, translating clinical information into language a child or teenager undergoing chemotherapy could understand, along with take-home guidance for managing pain, nausea, anxiety and other side effects. She also observed hospital rounds across both inpatient and outpatient care and was in the process of creating instructional videos to help patients with at-home treatment as the internship wrapped up. It wasn’t her first time at Columbia — Akinkugbe had previously worked with another program, International Initiative for Pediatrics and Nutrition (IIPAN), which works with pediatric oncologist across the globe to provide access to nutritional care. This year’s placement was one she pitched herself, working with W&L’s Shepherd Program to design an internship that let her return to an institution and a field she already knew well.  

Akinkugbe has spent her time at W&L finding ways to pair her interest in a career in public health with service. As a Bonner Scholar, she has logged service hours with the Rockbridge Area Health Center, Rockbridge Cares community dinners and a literacy program at Waddell Elementary. She recently returned from leading a Volunteer Venture trip as part of W&L’s Leading Edge program during new student orientation. An in 2019, she founded her own nonprofit, Education 4 Tomorrow, in her home country of Nigeria. The organization raises money to put child hawkers through school as an overall effort to increase literacy rates in Nigeria. 

The Columbia internship fits into her long-term plan to pursue a master’s degree in public health before medical school, with the MPH serving as a bridge between her undergraduate experience and the long road of medical school and residency. A summer spent in a major hospital system in a city she now sees herself potentially returning to after graduation has only sharpened her focus. 

Below, Akinkugbe shares her summer in pictures and describes her New York City experience in her own words.

My friends and I decided to go on a journey to memorialize my time in New York City. We walked from 207th Street in Inwood all the way to Battery Park City. We started at noon on a Saturday and didn’t finish till about 7 p.m., although we did take lots of breaks and stops along the way. We visited The Met Cloisters at the start of the journey, then walked along the West Side Highway, which was my go-to for summer runs. We found a spot to pose for photos with the George Washington Bridge as a backdrop. It was truly an awesome day – we ended up walking 18.26 miles over 6.5 hours!

I would usually go for a sweet treat with my friends once a week, and this time we tried one of my friend’s favorites on the Upper West Side called Ample Hills Creamery. I rated it an 8.8 on Beli, a food rating app that became my obsession over the summer in the city.

This is a picture I took on the West Side Highway after going on a walk with one of my friends, Tori. Because we lived so close to each other, whenever she finished work and I was off, we’d walk on the WSH in the evenings. I ran into a couple of W&L alums here and there. There were a lot of people in the city I ended up just running into coincidentally, even from back home in Nigeria.

This is an image I took at the end of my Manhattan walk. I was super tired but wanted a picture in Battery Park City to show my journey! My phone had also died at some point on the trip, so my friend had to take it for me.

This picture was taken during one of the summer races. I am trying to qualify to run the New York City Marathon in 2027. The New York Road Runners club requires you to run nine races in New York plus participate in one volunteering opportunity. Once you complete this, you get an entry into the marathon. This was my fifth race.

This was my first Broadway show, “Chicago!” It was absolutely amazing.

I went to the musical with my dad, who flew in from Nigeria for work.

This was from my last day working at Columbia Medical School. I had the opportunity to go into the children’s hospital because we work in the pediatric oncology ward, and I got to see rounds with a lot of different kinds of patients, both inpatient and outpatient. This really was the highlight of my summer!  I was honestly quite sad to leave, but I loved every moment.

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