Sunset at noon: Professor Olufemi David Olaleye

THE death of Professor Olufemi David Olaleye of the Department of Virology, University of Ibadan in the early hours of Tuesday, 27 July, 2021 came as a rude shock to the university community.. He was born on July 21, 1954, in Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Nigeria to the family of Pa James and Mama Esther Olaleye. He joined the service of the University of Ibadan immediately after his NYSC in 1982 as Resident Veterinary Officer (Pathology) and later was appointed Lecturer I in the Department of Virology, College of Medicine of same University in 1986 where he rose through the ranks of Senior Lecturer (1989) to Professor of Virology in 1995. Until his death Professor Olaleye was the Director of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) National Influenza Centre, University College Hospital, Ibadan; Director of the HIV Laboratory in the Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan; Adjunct Professor of the Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA and a Member of the Oyo State COVID-19 Task Force.

Professor Olaleye was the Dean, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria (2006 to 2010) and he was the Head of Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan at different times (1994 to 1996, 1998 to 2001, 2004 to 2006, 2014 to 2018). In fact, during our discussion on Wednesday, 21 July, 2021 aboutthe upcoming visit of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) monitoring team from the Nigeria Academy of Science (NAS) to his project scheduled for Friday, 23 July, 2021, he did not show any sign of weakness. His condition looked very good that day and he was of high spirit to the extent that we planned to meet on Monday, 26. Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet on Monday as planned but only to receive the sad news of his death far away in Abuja in the early hours of Tuesday. What a tragedy!

A Professor of Virology and a great scientist with outstanding achievements, Professor Olaleye was a hardworking person and an excellent researcher who did not compromise standards. He brought his training experiences to bear in all his undertakings. Professor Olaleye was a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) Postdoctoral Fellow at Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Institute, Hamburg, Germany; American Foundation for AIDS Researcher; Fogarty International Research Fellow and Lady Tata Memorial Leukaemia Researcher all at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA for a period of four years. His further research training as Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Frankfurt, Germany and National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Rockville, Maryland, USA eloquently prepared him for a lifetime research in infectious diseases. He made significant contributions to the world of science during his lifetime.

Professor Olaleye used his research experience and opportunities to address institutional and human capacity building needs at the critical period of the university system in Nigeria, especially in the area of research. As a result, the University of Ibadan Research Management Office (RMO) mourns the shocking demise of this man of honour and reputation for his significant contributions to the development of research administration at the university.  A foremost Virologist, resourceful and productive researcher, Prof. Olaleye wrote his name with indelible ink on the growth and development of the RMO.He was always advancing innovative ways to achieve best practices. He is indeed passionate about the future of research in UI and as a result, invested enormous resources – time, energy and money – to promote the institutionalisation of research infrastructures in the university.

As the Principal Investigator of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative Nigeria (MEPIN)project, he sponsored the training of research administrators at the North-Western University, Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston USA from his grant. This was the first major landmark training of the RMO staff. Aside from this, hesponsored Research Administrators’ attendance at conferences with a view to increasing their capacity and standard for global best practices and the visibility of the research management office.

Professor Olaleye used his position as the Principal Investigator (PI) of the MEPIN project to support research ethics education and review systems. For more than 10 years, he supported many workshops on the research ethics. For instance, apart from being in attendance, he through the MEPIN project in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT) funded a workshop on “Emerging and Contemporary Issues in Human Subject Research” for Members of the Ethics Committee and Reviewers which took place on 28 and 29 June, 2016. Also, he supported the animal care and use research ethics committee (ACUREC) during the maiden edition of the ACUREC workshop in 2017 and the recently concluded training workshop of 2021.

At the recently organised reviewers’ training workshop by ACUREC in 2021, he was in attendance to share his wealth of experience with the participants. Professor Olaleye demonstrated an exemplary accomplishment in his contributions to medical education. As the PI of the MEPIN project, he introduced several activities focusing on comprehensive research capacity building for undergraduate medical students, postgraduate students, resident doctors and junior faculties. The training has been institutionalised in the participating institutions. Over 4,500 participants were trained in research design and implementation. He aroused a research culture among upcoming early career scholars.  The MEPIN project, under his leadership, addressed the dearth of manpower in the rural health sector and improving retention of health workers through community-based education (CBE) preceptorship. This programme enabled students to learn and acquire professional competencies in a community setting such as basic clinical, research and communication skills. It provides contextual learning that enables trainees to acquire requisite local experiences, competence, confidence and values. The case-based teaching method added value to medical education.

For the first time in medical school in Nigeria, the use of AD Instrument (power lab) for the teaching of physiology and pharmacology practical at the undergraduate level was achievable. Also, E-learning was introduced to enhance teaching in the MEPINinstitutions.

The outputs from the MEPIN project were encouraging and clearly demonstrated accountability and responsible leadership. Over 100 articles in peer-reviewed local and international scientific journals have been generated from the MEPIN project. The MEPIN project facilitated the development and implementation of competency based medical and dental curricula in Nigeria and some other MEPIN project institutions in Africa.

Also,the dearth of manpower needs for the HIV/AIDS care in sub-Saharan Africa was addressed through the MEPIN project under his leadership. This innovation has positively impacted HIV care service delivery in Nigeria. Over 60,000 university students in four MEPIN institutions in Nigeria have offered the course on reproductive health issues developed as part of this project. The course emphasizesthe prevention of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). A new M.Sc. degree in HIV Science programme initiated wasestablished to increase the number of high-level health care providers equipped with knowledge and skills for various aspects of prevention and management of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Sixty-five Resident Doctors received a certificate of completion of an online, graduate-level “Clinical Management of HIV” course from the University of Washington. All of them are currently offering HIV prevention and treatment services in their clinics and training medical and nursing students. The MEPIN project facilitated rotation of undergraduate medical and dental students and several health professional postgraduate students through the PEPFAR-supported ART clinics in the 6 MEPIN institutions.

As the PI of the University of Ibadan Medical Education Partnership Initiative for Junior Faculty (UI-MEPI-J) project which succeeded the MEPIN project,his achievements were remarkable. As at the time of his demise, a total of 19 trainees from years 01 to 04 cohorts are progressing well with their mentored research training programme after receiving ethical approvals. Fourteen (14) of them spent4, 6 or 10 weeks for their short-term overseas internship training and mentorship at theNorth-western University, Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. Two of the year 01 mentees have presented findings from their project work at international conferences and developed manuscripts for publication.

TheUI-MEPI-J project continued to implement the curricula previously developed for faculty development short courses for the institutional level that started in year 01. Additional short courses including viral genomics, sequence analysis and phylogenetic analysis have been developed and being implemented. So far, 1,500 participants have attended the short courses. An intensive course on responsible conduct of research was conducted where all the participants completed the University of Miami online Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative(CITI Program) ethics course and 30 hours of didactic Responsible Conduct of Research(RCR) lectures; 50 hours each of phylogenetic analysis, viral genomics/sequence analysis, data analysis and manuscript writing. Participants had 30 hours of hands-on classes in bibliography and literature reference management; 36 hours each for research design/methodology and bioethics. Participatory/group discussion approaches with practical exercises/cases were used for each of the training programmes. In addition, participants developed specific documents relevant to each of the courses. There were group works on research integrity, authorship and plagiarism during the RCR course; individual participants developed research proposals during the research design and methodology training.

So far, over 2,000 researchers have completed the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) course during the year 04 of implementation of UI-MEPI-J grant. About 50 publicationshave been generated from the project.

No doubt, the scientific community will miss his contributions to the science of Virology, especially his role in surveillance and control of HIV-AIDS, Ebola virus, other virulent viruses and the recent global pandemic, COVID-19, locally and internationally.

As the Dean of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Professor Olaleye initiated and organised the first Unibadan conference of biomedical research as part of the programmes for the celebration of the University of Ibadan 60th anniversary in 2008. The conference attracted participants in biomedical sciences and related fields locally and internationally. The conference has since created a platform for young scientiststo present their works, learn new ideas and establish networks while the senior scholars renew and strengthen their networks. Today, this conference is one of the flagship faculty-based conferences in the University of Ibadan. As Dean, he also partly sponsored some junior faculty for training abroad to complete their Ph.D bench work.

Indeed, Professor Olaleye was a beacon of strength and support for institutional building throughouthis career at the University of Ibadan. He was an open-minded and large-hearted man. An The Apostolic Churchfaithful to the core, who believed in and exhibited Christ’s virtue and tenets in all his dealings.

Professor Olaleye was a hardworking researcher, wonderful mentor, who supported every forthright individual who came his way. One of his beliefs in life was the importance of being authentic with people, saying “what needs to be shall be.” OD, as many people fondly called him, would say “don’t worry, just wait and let us see what God will do. Don’t lose hope. Let us continue to pray. Prayer is never too much.”My interaction with him strengthened my faith in God and enabled me to be stable in my faith in Jesus Christ.

The success story of the RMO will be incomplete without this academic giant who gave himself selflessly to serve humanity. We are deeply pained by his demise and we pray for the repose of his soul and that the Lord grant him eternal rest, comfort his loved ones.

Certainly, Professor Olaleye did all he could and left his footprints on the sands of time. The death of Professor Olaleye is like the sun that sets at noon, and we are left dumbfounded.  However, when we love people, it is so comforting to know that they will always be with us in our hearts. Professor Olufemi David Olaleye, truly we love you, but God loves you more. Sleep on till we meet to part no more.

Adieu! Adieu!! Adieu!!!

• Professor Jegede is Director, Research Management Office, University of Ibadan.

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