A physician who worked 18 months at Iowa City’s Veterans Administration Medical Center has been denied a license to practice medicine in Iowa.
Under federal regulations, doctors who aren’t licensed in a particular state can still work as physicians at federally operated care facilities, such as those run by the VA, within those same states.
State and federal records indicate Dr. Odinaka Nwankwo, who worked in women’s health at the VA Medical Center in Iowa City from January 2021 through December 2022, graduated from medical school in the Dominican Republic in August 1999.
According to the Iowa Board of Medicine, Nwankwo, who is from Nigeria, then took the three-step United States Medical Licensing Examination. The board alleges she took the first-step exam eight times before passing in July 2002, and took the second-step exam four times before passing in October 2004.
The board alleges Nwankwo took the third-step exam seven times between November 2005 and March 2017, but has yet to pass the test.
Board records show that in January 2015, Nwankwo passed the necessary exams for licensure in Puerto Rico, and then, from August 2018 through May 2019, worked in a federal health care facility in Montana.
In May 2021, the same month the Montana Board of Medicine granted her a license to practice in that state, Nwankwo began working at the VA Medical Center in Iowa City. Court records indicate that in December 2022, Nwankwo was fired from the VA Medical Center, which led to her filing a civil rights lawsuit, alleging employment discrimination, against the VA that’s still pending.
In January 2024, Nwankwo began working at a federal facility in Texas, while also providing physicals for military recruits in central Iowa, according to Nwankwo.
In March 2025, she applied for an Iowa medical license, which the board denied, citing her alleged failure to pass the third step of the United States Medical Licensing Examination and her alleged failure to complete two years of acceptable postgraduate residency.
Nwankwo appealed that decision, arguing her work experience in Puerto Rico and in federal health care facilities should serve as the equivalent of postgraduate training. Recently, the board held a hearing on the matter and ruled that Nwankwo does not meet all of the legal requirements to work as a physician in Iowa.
“The board understands Dr. Nwankwo is frustrated with this process and that she will be disappointed with this decision,” the board stated in its ruling. “However, the board has no authority to circumvent the statutory requirements for licensure.”
Nwankwo said Wednesday in an interview she doesn’t understand the board’s reasoning but does not intend to pursue the matter. She said she plans to remain in Iowa while making periodic trips to Puerto Rico, where she can practice medicine and earn a living.
She said she also plans to pursue her civil rights lawsuit against the VA Medical Center in Iowa City. As part of that case, Nwankwo alleges numerous colleagues harassed, belittled and insulted her at work, in part by criticizing her hair, accent and demeanor. The lawsuit, in which Nwankwo represents herself, seeks more than $100 million in damages, which is well above the statutory cap on such claims.
“It is very hard for one person to fight the federal government,” Nwankwo told the Iowa Capital Dispatch on Wednesday, adding that she feels the VA might be behind the licensing board’s recent decision. “Why are they blacklisting me? I cannot get hired anywhere.”
In response to the lawsuit, the Veterans Administration has denied any wrongdoing. The VA alleges a Summary Review Board fired Nwankwo in December 2022 at a time when she was still working as a probationary employee.
In court filings, the VA has objected to Nwankwo’s request for back pay at the level of medical director, a position the VA says she never held, as well as her requests that the VA pay for her future education and provide assistance in obtaining immigration visas for her sister, niece and nephew.
A trial in the matter is scheduled for June 21, 2027.
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