Young Nigerian scientist Tolullah Oni shines at World Economic Forum 2018

Dr Tolullah Oni will be giving five presentations on approaches to infectious disease prevention, urban health, healthy ageing, and precision health at this year’s World Economic Forum annual meeting.

The annual event, held from 23-26 January 2018 brings together business leaders, international political leaders, economists, and journalists to Davos, the eastern alps region of Switzerland to discuss the most pressing issues of our time.

Alongside speakers such as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the U.S.’s Donald Trump, Dr Oni will speak about her work on public health to the forum’s theme of: “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”.

Dr Oni is especially decorated. She was awarded the South African Young Academy of Science award in 2013 and currently serves as co-chair of the 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 is a 2015 World Economic Forum Young Scientist and was selected as a future global leader to participate in the Future Leaders Program 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 most recent award, the Next Einstein Forum Fellows designation, recognizes and supports her as one of Africa’s best young scientists and technologists.

According to the Fellowship, her Einstein Challenge is as follows:

Tolu is working on establishing the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE), an interdisciplinary research programme for urban health research in Africa. The RICHE program 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 intersectoral partnership between academia, civil society and government.

As the continent continues to wrestle with issues of health delivery and health infrastructure, the presence of doctors such as Dr Tolullah Oni on the global stage sets precedence and helps to push African health forward.

Dr Oni was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and received her medical training in London and South Africa. She currently serves as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town.