Tolullah Oni: Young Nigerian with a global vision

She was at the recently concluded World Economic Forum 2018 in Davos, Switzerland, and gave presentations on how to prevent infectious diseases as well as promote urban health, healthy ageing, and precision health.

The World Economic Forum, held this year from January 23 to 26, 2018, is an annual assemblage of global business leaders, political leaders, economists, and journalists, among others, to discuss the most pressing issues of the time.

This year’s theme was ‘Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World’, and Dr Tolullah Oni, a young South Africa-based Nigerian scientist, earned her place on the strength of her expertise and passion to change her world.

Tolu Oni is an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT), a Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Fellow, and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Health and Healthcare.

The Next Einstein Forum (NEF) is an organisation working to make Africa a global hub for science and technology. One of its projects is the annual selection of a group of young African scientists and technologists who have already proved their talent and will use a year-long fellowship not only to advance their careers but also to serve as role models for others.

Tolu was selected as an inaugural Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies Iso Lomso Fellow and aims to promote science and research as key drivers of development in Africa.

A Public Health Medical Specialist and Urban Epidemiologist, Tolu is a passionate advocate of health equity, who, through her research, aims to contribute significantly to existing knowledge on the changing patterns of disease and implications for health and wellbeing of the population in the context of urbanization.

As the co-Chair of the Global Young Academy and a member and previous co-Chair of the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS), she works actively to encourage public engagement to translate research findings into policy and practice.

She strives to actively promote a coordinated approach to engagement with other scientific and societal communities, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and the global south to identify creative strategies to address complex population health and broader societal challenges.

Tolu was in 2013 awarded the South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) award and currently serves as co-chair of the body’s executive committee. She was also elected to the 2014 Young Physicians Leadership Programme by the Inter-Academy Medical Panel and the World Academy of Science.

She was a 2015 World Economic Forum Young Scientist and was selected as a future global leader to participate in the Future Leaders Programme of the Annual Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society Forum, Japan, 2015. She also received the Carnegie ‘Next Generation of African Academics’ and the 2015 Claude Leon Merit research awards.

Her award as a Next Einstein Forum Fellow recognizes her as one of Africa’s best young scientists and technologists.

As an Einstein Fellow, her challenge includes working on establishing the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE), an interdisciplinary research programme for urban health research in Africa.

The RICHE programme will be a platform to address urban health inequity and to identify creative strategies to address complex population health and broader societal challenges through a coordinated and inter-sectoral partnership between academia, civil society and government.

With the African continent constantly struggling with issues of health delivery and health infrastructure, the likes of Tolu Oni on the global stage would help push the African health forward.

Born in Lagos, Tolu Oni received her medical training in London and South Africa.