Bio
Dr. Uchenna Umeh or Dr. Lulu as her patients fondly call her is a Nigerian born board certified Pediatrician with nearly 30 years of clinical experience. She likes to call herself a Momatrician and a Grand Doctor to all her patients she has “adopted” along the way.
She attended Ahmadu Bello University Hospital for medical school in Nigeria and obtained her pediatric residency training at Howard University Hospital Washington D.C. Soon after completion she started her private practice in Lancaster SC where she practiced for nearly 15 years. This was when she first experienced a patient complete suicide.
Following a divorce, she suddenly she found herself a single mother of three sons. She ended up selling her beloved practice, joining the United States Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and moved across the country with her children to San Antonio Texas. While Active, she served as Commander at Maxwell AFB, and Medical Director at Lackland AFB. After completing her 4year contract with the Air Force and receiving an honorable discharge, she worked with a large multispecialty group practice until September 2018. In the past few years of practice, she noticed a disturbing trend; more and more of her patients were presenting to her office with depression, anxiety, self-harming behavior, suicidal behavior, and they were getting younger and younger. Unfortunately, she lost one of her beloved patients to suicide in 2008, but after a 7 yr old patient presented with TWO suicide attempts in May of 2018, she resigned from her job to pursue a new path in public speaking.
She has now dedicated her life and her voice to creating awareness for mental health issues in children, teens and young adults, especially in the minority community. She helps parents and their children navigate bullying and depression, so they do not end up in the cruel hands of suicide. Her website is www.teenalive.com. She is also Medical Director and CEO of Dr. Lulu’s Youth Health Center, a brand new pediatric practice focusing on at-risk youth aged 8-18 yrs with mental health issues and behavior issues.
She has been featured on Radio shows like Seeta with Friends 1510 WWBC, U of Chicago Medicine 1690AM-MVON”, The On Air Advocate, The Wholist, Black Entrepreneur Experience, MD Monthly Magazine, The Texas Medical Association Monthly magazine, KevinMD.com, Licensed to Live Podcast, and many more. She blogs at wordsbyblackbutterfly.com and has a weekly Facebook Live series at 2pm each Sunday on AskDoctorLulu, her facebook business page. As a public speaker, she has given National Keynote Addresses at the Black Doctoral Network 6th annual convention, the 25th Annual Convention of ANPA (Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas) and many others, but her favorite place to speak is at schools where she has one-on-one contact with children and teens.
She is also a parent coach and focuses her online courses on Communication between parents and teens. Her first book, an Amazon bestseller is appropriately titled “How to Raise Well Rounded Children” and is available on her website and on Amazon.
Her hobbies include "storytelling", exercising, reading, gardening, and dancing. She lives in San Antonio with her wife and life partner, Linda, their three sons (two of whom are now in college) and their Rat Terrier mix, Lulu.
She can be reached on all social media platforms as Uchenna Umeh or Ask Doctor Lulu.
Speaking Topics
- Pediatrics
- Youth Suicide, Depression, Mental Illness