Professor Olaoluwa Pheabian Akinwale

Olaoluwa Pheabian Akinwale is a Professor of Parasitology who recently served as the Deputy Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR). She also served as the Director of Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Research at the Institute. Professor Akinwale is a founding member of the Skin NTD-Laboratory Network within the World Health Organization (WHO) African Region. She has held Visiting Professor positions at Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, the University of Debrecen in Hungary, and Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia. She was an Adjunct Professor at Lead City University in Nigeria and has recently been appointed as a Visiting Professor at Trinity University, Nigeria. She is a recognized Fellow of the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria (PPSN). 

Professor Akinwale has been instrumental in providing actionable policy recommendations for NTDs as a member of several key organizations, including the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (ARNTD), the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Neglected Tropical Diseases (STAGNTD), the Management Board of ARNTD, and the Board of Trustees of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH). She also serves on several prestigious committees, including the Meeting and Events Committee and the Policy and Advocacy Committee of RSTMH, the College of Experts for the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF), the Advisory Committee for the ARNTD International Conference on NTD Research in Africa (InCORNTD), the Project Advisory Board for Grand Challenges Nigeria (GCNg), and the Portfolio Advisory Panel for the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund in Japan. These roles highlight her significant contributions to health research and policy advocacy. 

Professor Akinwale is a member of the WHO/TDR Global Research Mentorship Working Group, which developed the newly launched Institutional Research Mentorship Guidelines for low- and middle-income countries. As a mentor, she has successfully secured fully funded international PhD scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships for many early-career researchers, some of whom have advanced to become professors and prominent scientists. Additionally, she serves as an expert reviewer for various international research funding organizations and is a member of the editorial boards of several local and international peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

Professor Akinwale has chaired and co-chaired numerous conference sessions, seminars, and workshops, and she has delivered many invited talks and plenary lectures. Recently, she successfully hosted the first West African Regional Meeting of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH) at her institute. Throughout her career, Professor Akinwale has won numerous competitive research and equipment grants, as well as several training fellowships and conference travel bursaries from various national and international funding organizations. In 2016, she established the Buruli ulcer Reference Laboratory at her Institute to support the National Control Program by providing molecular confirmation for clinically diagnosed Buruli ulcer cases in Nigeria. This achievement was made possible through the support of her institute and multiple grant awards, enabling timely diagnosis and significantly improving treatment outcomes for patients suffering from Buruli ulcer in Nigeria.