A former Provost of the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan (UI), Professor Akinyinka Omigbodun has been slated to deliver the institution’s 44th University Lecture.
The three-day lecture, titled, “From Cells to Systems: Building a Vibrant Academy, is scheduled to be delivered at Trenchard Hall on Thursday, May 16, 23, and 30, 2024.
The topics to be delivered for the three days are “Cells, Organs and System: The Cells Engaging the System, “The System Nourishing the Cell”, and “Making the System Function Better”.
Omigbodun is the husband of the current UI Provost of the College of Medicine, Olayinka Olusola Omigbodun, the first Nigerian female professor of psychiatry.
Omigbodun, clinician and scientist, is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Professor of Reproductive Health Sciences at the Pan African University Life and Earth Sciences Institute (PAULESI) and Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
He graduated (with Distinction) from the University of Ibadan in 1980, winning multiple prizes including the May and Baker Prize for being the best candidate at the Part I MBBS examination, and the Adeola Odutola Student Fellowship for outstanding academic performance and contribution to community life in the Medical School. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, obtaining the Fellowship of both the West African College of Surgeons in 1987 and the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria in 1988. He had subspecialty training in Gynaecological Oncology at the University Hospital of South Manchester, Withington, UK from 1990 to 1991.
He was a Rockefeller Foundation scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA from 1993 to 1997. He has practised as a gynaecological oncologist, for more than 35 years and was promoted to Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in October 1997. He has researched into prevention of cervical cancer, mechanisms of trophoblastic invasion of the uterus, maternal and newborn health, surgical safety, medical education and, lately, urban health. He has mentored many trainees in various aspects of reproductive health, especially in gynaecological oncology.
As Provost of the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan between 2006 and 2010, he led the preparation of a new undergraduate medical curriculum to meet the needs of the 21st century. As Chief Co-coordinator of Courses at the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) from 2002 to 2014, he had significant input into the content of postgraduate surgical training in West Africa. Later, as President of WACS from 2015 to 2017, he ensured the approval of new curricula, new accreditation criteria for all training institutions and expansion of surgical training to rural parts of West Africa. He led the establishment of the West African Biomedical Education Network in 2008, to enhance the teaching skills of the academic staff of undergraduate schools of Medicine and allied health professions in Anglophone West Africa. The network established a Masters’ degree program in Biomedical Education on a distance-learning platform at the University of Ibadan in 2009. He was the first Chairperson (2010-2015) of the Board of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), an organization promoting transdisciplinary research to solve Africa’s public health problems. The Consortium pioneered a paradigm shift in doctoral degree training in Africa and more than 160 of the 250 enrolled have obtained their PhD as at 2023.
He served as Chairman of the Regional Council for Health Professionals’ Education (RCHPE) in the ECOWAS Region 2017-2020. He’s a member of the Scientific Committee of the global science programme on Urban Health and Wellbeing, International Science Council (ISC). He was the Editor-in-Chief of the Tropical Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology from 1999-2010 and the Proceedings of the Nigerian Academy of Science from 2015-2019. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of Medicine and the Medical Sciences.
He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science (FAS), the Nigerian Academy of Medicine and the Academy of Medicine Specialties of Nigeria. He is also a Fellow ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of the United Kingdom.
