No matter the endeavor, Omai Garner ’96 is a leader who continues to get results.

The year is 1995 and Omai Garner is all smiles. Literally. One only needs to page through the Prairie yearbook, Etcetera, to understand that Wind Point seems to be a place where Garner felt comfortable illuminating the hallways with his megawatt grin. Case in point – that year’s club and organization photos, the less formal, sometimes impromptu companions to the yearbook headshots. 

Here’s Omai in Model OAS, mid-laugh as he climbs atop someone’s shoulders just before the photographer’s camera goes click. Here he is in Model UN, the only student stretched out on the ground at the foot of his classmates, several of whom playfully use his feet as a footrest. Here he is with Student Council, his mouth twisted ever so slightly, making you think he might have been mid-whistle or mid-joke, the eyes of several classmates instinctively moving in his direction.

No one, it seems, wanted to miss what Omai Garner might do next. 

Man on a Mission

These days people are still watching Omai Garner, still eager to be in his orbit. Sometimes it’s because of his life-changing work as one of the country’s leading microbiologists. Sometimes it’s because of his life-changing philanthropic endeavors  as Co-founder of the Social Justice Learning Institute. And sometimes it’s because he’s on The Today Show. 

Such was the case on April 9th, 2020, as Garner, Professor and Director of Clinical Microbiology for the UCLA Health System, appeared on Today to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic. Five years ago, national news outlets had good reason to seek out his expertise – his lab at UCLA, which currently employs 120 laboratorians and produces over 20 million blood test and 1.5 million infectious disease test results per year, was the first hospital clinical laboratory in Southern California to offer rapid-result PCR testing during the pandemic. 

The 12,600-square foot lab he helps oversee in the basement of Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center operates nonstop, processing every vial of blood drawn in UCLA’s main hospital, emergency room, and any clinic in the neighboring UCLA Medical Plaza. 

“Decision-making in medicine is difficult,” Garner told uclahealth.org in April of this year. “Our tests are the critical pieces of data that allow a clinician to treat our patients as fast as possible. It’s not just tubes of blood. There is a very personal responsibility that we take.” 

The Importance of Empowerment 

There’s a quote about science – and when the field works at its best – in Omai Garner’s bio on the Social Justice Learning Institute’s website. “It is collaboration, and not competition, which produces the most significant advances in biomedical research.” 

It’s what produces the best progress when it comes to helping others as well. As co-founder and current Board Chair of SJLI, Garner believes in the power of empowerment, of helping individuals find their voice, of coming together to improve the education, health, and well-being of youth and communities of color. 

To make this kind of difference in the world, it’s imperative to surround yourself with like-minded individuals eager to make an impact, to make things better. This was obvious to Garner even back in the early nineties. In Model OAS, for instance. In Model UN. In Student Council. In Orchestra. On the tennis and soccer teams. 

“Prairie provided a high school learning environment that offered an abundance of opportunities for excellence both scholarly and artistic,” says Garner. “AP classes were readily available. We were consistently surrounded by high-achieving peers and teachers who were passionate about youth education. This environment created the confidence in educational achievement that I have carried throughout my career.” 

We look forward to celebrating Omai and the rest of the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees on Saturday, June 14th. Click here to register for the Alumni Weekend Celebration and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.