Professor A.O. Omigbodun, FAS

Professor Akinyinka O. Omigbodun graduated from the Medical School of the University of Ibadan with Distinction in June 1980, winning many prizes and scholarships for academic excellence. After undergoing specialist training in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, he was awarded the Fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons in 1987 and of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria in 1988. He had further training in Gynaecological Oncology at the University Hospital of South Manchester, Withington, England from 1990 to 1991. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA from 1993 -1997. He was appointed as a Lecturer by the University of Ibadan in 1988 and promoted to the grade of Professor in October 1997. He has been the recipient of many coveted international awards, including a Training Fellowship from the International Women’s Health Coalition in 1990, the Audrey Meyer Mars Fellowship of the American Cancer Society in 1992 and an award by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine at its 52nd Annual Conference in Boston in 1996, for distinct contribution to science. In September 2010, the Osun State Government bestowed the State’s Merit Award on Professor Omigbodun for his contributions to the Science and Practice of Medicine. In January 2012, he was elected a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science (FAS), the most prestigious body of scientific researchers in the nation. In March 2017, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of the United Kingdom ad eundem, one of only eight Nigerians to have been so honoured since the RCOG was established about 70 years ago.

 

Professor Omigbodun’s research interests are wide-ranging, but his initial primary focus had been on environmental factors in reproductive biology, particularly as they relate to reproductive tract cancers. Lately, his interest has expanded into other areas of population and public health as well as the education of healthcare professionals. He has published over 120 scholarly articles and book chapters. In addition, he has more than 150 published conference presentations and abstracts.

 

Professor Omigbodun has made significant contributions to undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in Africa, serving as the Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan from August 2006 until July 2010 and as the 28th President of the West African College of Surgeons from 2015 – 2017.  He is the Chairman of the Regional Council for Health Professionals’ Education, an organ of the West African Health Organization (WAHO), which is itself a specialized agency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He leads the West African Network on Biomedical Education that developed MSc degree in Biomedical Education, the first Masters Degree on an open and distance learning platform at the University of Ibadan, indeed in West Africa. He was the Foundation Chairman of the Board of Management of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA), a body to strengthen research capacity in population and public health in Africa. As Chairman of the Board of CARTA, Professor Omigbodun led the effort to develop a new paradigm for doctoral training in Population and Public Health in African partner institutions, with emphasis on the interdisciplinary nature of public health research.

 

Professor Omigbodun is the Editor-in-Chief of the Proceedings of the Nigerian Academy of Science. He had served as the Editor of the Tropical Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology from 1999 till 2010 and still serves on its editorial advisory board. He is editorial adviser or consultant to several other journals, including the Journal of the West African College of Surgeons, Annals of Ibadan Postgraduate Medicine, Annals of African Medicine, Journal of Reproduction and Sexual Health, Annals of Medical and Health Sciences Research (AMHSR) and Journal of Basic and Clinical Reproductive Sciences (JBCRS).