Professor Isaac Folorunso Adewole, outgoing vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan was  sworn in  Wednesday 11/11/15 as Nigeria’s health minister. Prof. Adewole is the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan since it attained the status of an Independent University Institution in 1962, having hitherto been a College of the University of London from 1948 – 1962. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chancellor, Adewole was a member of Council and the Head, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the College of Medicine. He succeeded Professor Olufemi Bamiro, FNSE, FAS whose tenure as Vice-Chancellor expired on Tuesday, 30 November, 2010. A Professor at the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria since 1997, Isaac Adewole is a Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan. He is also an adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Chicago, ILlinois, USA.

Born on 05 May, 1954, Prof. Adewole attended Ilesa Grammar School from 1966 – 1972 where he obtained Grade I with distinction in 1970 and the Higher School Certificate in 1972 in the same school where he made AAC in the three Science subjects he offered. He enrolled as a National Award Scholar at the University of Ibadan in 1973 and obtained his MBBS degree from the University of Ibadan in 1978 with the Glaxo Allenbury prize for the best performance in Paediatrics. He joined the services of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology as a Senior House Officer in 1981 and underwent further medical training to become a Senior Registrar in the Department in 1984. He then travelled to the UK for a Research Fellowship in the Department of Medical Oncology at Charing Cross Hospital in London. Professor Adewole was appointed Lecturer I at the College of Medicine in the University of Ibadan in 1989. He was prompted Senior Lecturer in 1995 and Professor in 1997. He was Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry (2000 – 2002), before becoming a Provost of the College of Medicine from 2002 to 2006.

Professor Adewole is Director of the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV Project at UCH, Chairman of the PMTCT National Task Team Subcommittee on anti-retrovirals for the PMTCT of HIV and the country’s Principal Investigator for ‘Operation Stop Cervical Cancer’ in Nigeria. Secretary-General of the Confederation of African Medical Associations and Societies (CAMAS) from 1997-2003, Professor Adewole holds memberships of many learned societies, including the Nigerian Medical Association, the Society of Gynaecology & Obstetrics of Nigeria, the European Research Organisation on Genital Infection and Neoplasia (EUROGIN), and the International Network on Control of Gynaecological Cancers.

In a publication by New Telegraph, Professor Isaac was described as a great scholar and erudite administrator. He is the only Nigerian Professor appointed as member of council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, an association that represents 535 universities from 37 Commonwealth countries. In recognition of his outstanding research and expertise in the area of cancer, he was appointed to serve as member of the International advisory board of "African Cancer institute", a comprehensive cancer center in sub- Saharan black Africa.

On May 5, 2014, he celebrated his 60th birthday and a public lecture was held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan. The lecture recalled how traducers tried relentlessly to sabotage his appointment as the Vice Chancellor of the institution in 2010.The Chairman of the 60th birthday celebration was Wole Olanipekun a legal luminary, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association and past Pro-Chancellor of the University. He described Professor Isaac as a "cat not only with nine lives, but one with 18 lives, who surmounted all the travails and conspiratorial petitions hatched against him by his traducers."

In 2012, he was elected as fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, the apex academic organization in Nigeria. He was inducted into the academy, alongside with Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass, a Nigerian Professor of Computer science at the University of Lagos and Professor Akinyinka Omigbodun, the President of the West African College of Surgeons and former Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.

In 2014, he was appointed as Member Governing Council, Adeleke University and on June 2015 he was appointed as Member, Governing Council, Pan-African University, a post-graduate training and research network of university nodes in five regions, supported by the African Union.  On March 28, he was appointed as Independent National Electoral Commission's Collation Officer in Lagos State for the Nigerian general election, 2015 and on April 11, he served as Returning Officer for Lagos State gubernatorial election.

A leading advocate for nationwide access to cervical cancer screening, Professor Adewole is also involved with advocacy work designed to reduce the burden of unsafe abortions in Nigeria and is the Coordinator of the Campaign Against Unwanted Pregnancy. His current research interests include evaluating novel ideas for promoting cervical cancer screening in developing countries, a multi-country study on HPV in cervical cancer among African women and evaluating attitudes of HIV positive pregnant women to contraception and couple counselling. He has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and books on gynaecological oncology, abortion, HIV/AIDS and perinatal medicine.

He has delivered many guest lectures, numerous communications at scientific conferences, abstracts and poster presentations and has published over 140 articles in peer-reviewed journals and books on gynaecological oncology, abortion, HIV/AIDS and perinatal medicine. A widely travelled man, he has attended over 100 scientific conferences and workshops. He is the Guttmacher Institute’s 2008 Bixby Leadership Fellow in Reproductive Health, President Elect of African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC) and the current Chair of the sub-saharan African Cervical Cancer Working Group (CCWG). He is a Patron of the Boys Brigade of Nigeria and he chaired the National Task Team on prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV.

Source:Wikepedia/medicalworldnigeria