"When Leadership Lights a Fire: Making a Difference For Others"

Emmanuel Dimitri Foko Tito was born in a suburb of Douala, Cameroon, and is the third child of a large family. He left Cameroon at the age of fifteen because his parents pictured the United States as a land of opportunities where each of their children could succeed.  Before and after the move, Tito grew up in a rural community neighborhoods with limited access to medical resources; this way of living has shaped him to be more understanding to the needs of underserved populations.

Currently, Tito is an Internal Medicine resident and Captain in the U.S. Army at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. SOM. Since medical school, he has been involved with the Rural Health Initiative in West Virginia, the WV AHEC Rural Community Health Scholars Program, the West Virginia Rural Health Association, and various national organizations that promote health care in underserved areas.  Tito has also participated in several international medical trips including the 2017 social medicine course in Haiti. In 2019, he won the West Virginia Outstanding Rural Health Student of the Year Award.