Folasade Ogunsola was born in 1958 . She is a Nigerian professor of medical microbiology, and now the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos.
She specializes in disease control, particularly HIV/AIDS. Ogunsola was provost of College of Medicine, University of Lagos and is reputed as being the first woman to occupy the position.
She was also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development Services) of the institution between 2017 and 2021. She was elected as the acting vice chancellor of University of Lagos on 24 August 2020, by the university’s senate.
Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola
Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos
In office
2022–2025
Personal details
Born Folasade Mabogunje
Age : 1958 (age 63–64)
Alma mater
College of Medicine, Unilag
(Masters in Medical microbiology)
College of Medicine, University of Wales, Cardiff
(Doctor of Philosophy in Medical microbiology)
Early Life
Ogunsola was raised in University of Ibadan where her father, Akin Mabogunje lectured.
As a child, she mimicked medical practitioners by using dolls as patients, while offering medical care to them. She attended Queen’s College, Lagos. Between 1974 and 1982, she obtained her first degree from University of Ife and a master’s degree from College of Medicine, University of Lagos, then proceeded for her doctorate at University of Wales between 1992 and 1997.
Career
Ogunsola was Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos for a short period in 2020 when the University was plunged into crisis as a result of the removal of the Vice Chancellor by the University Council. She was also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development Services) of the University, a position she previously occupied before ascending to the institution’s Acting Vice Chancellorship.
Prior to being the deputy vice chancellor, she was the provost of College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Her research areas have been centered on the regulation and management of viral diseases, particularly HIV. She is the principal investigator at AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) at University of Lagos. She has also been the chairman of Infection Control Committee of Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Additionally, she is the chairman of the National Association of Colleges of Medicine in Nigeria.
In 2018, she expressed concern on disease prevention and control in Nigeria. She identified poor hygiene and overuse of antibiotics as practices that foster antimicrobial-drug resistance. Providing a solution, she maintained that “sustained Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) infrastructure and programs should be built around a set of core components which includes guidelines, training, surveillance, multimodal strategies for implementing IPC, monitoring and evaluation among others”.
Speaking during a session with the media, she explained that the solution to reducing the 58% unemployment rate was for Nigerian graduates to begin innovating ideas that will enhance human life. She also noted that knowledge in itself isn’t sufficient, but its application in an appropriate manner to better mankind and enhance livelihood of others is what youths should be concerned about.
She was a founding member of the Nigerian Society for Infection control in 1998 and is also a member of the Global Infection Prevention and control Network.
She was elected as the acting vice chancellor of University of Lagos on August 24, 2020, by the university’s senate following a crisis between the pro-chancellor, Mr. Wale Babalakin and the vice-chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe. She became the first woman to be vice-chancellor in the university’s history.
Source : Wikipedia
