Professor Isaac Adewole, has been a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria since 1997. He is the current Vice-Chancellor of the and the immediate past President of African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC).

 

He was born in Ilesa on 05 May, 1954. The young Adewole attended Ogudu Methodist Primary School, Ilesa (1960-61), Methodist School 1,Oke Ado, Ibadan 1962-63) and St Mathias Demostration School Akure (1964-65). He thereafter proceeded to 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 prestigious University of Ibadan in 1973 and obtained his MB BS 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 Charring 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 1992 and Professor in 1997. He was Acting Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University from 1999-2000 and Dean of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences and Dentistry (2000 - 2002), before becoming Provost of the College of Medicine from 2002 to 2006.

 

Professor Adewole has also served the University of Ibadan in many other administrative capacities.

 

He was a member MacArthur Grant Implementation Committee; member of Senate; Chairman, University Campus Committee on AIDS; member, Committee on the Review of guidelines for Promotion of Academic Staff; Chair, Committee on Assessment of Academic Staff by Students, Project Director, UNFPA Assisted Programme on Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Prevention as well as a member of the Organizing Committee and Chairman of the Medical sub-Committee of NUGA in 2002.

 

A progressive unionist, Prof. Adewole was Secretary General and President, Association of Resident Doctors, UCH Branch as well as Secretary-General and National President of the National Association of Resident Doctors of Nigeria (NARD) from1982-84. He was also Deputy Secretary General (1988-1990, and Secretary General, Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) from 1990-1992; Secretary General, Confederation of African Medical Associations and Societies (CAMAS) from 1997-2003, and Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, Oyo State.

 

Professor Adewole is the Principal Investigator of the AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and Co-Principal Investigator of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN). He was a former Chairman of the National Task Team on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in Nigeria. He is also the country’s Principal Investigator for ‘Operation Stop Cervical Cancer’ in Nigeria. Professor Adewole holds memberships of many learned societies, including the Nigerian Medical Association, the Society of Gynaecology & Obstetrics of Nigeria, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), International Gynaecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) and the International AIDS Society (IAS). The Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), conferred on him the 2013 Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Research. This is in recognition of his contribution in research to improvement in the health of Nigerian women

 

A leading advocate for nationwide access to cervical cancer screening, Professor Adewole’s 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 interaction between HIV and Pregnancy.He has published over 180 articles in peer-reviewed journals and books on gynaecological oncology, abortion, HIV/AIDS and perinatal medicine. He is the Guttmacher Institute’s 2008 Bixby Leadership Fellow in Reproductive health and the current chair of the sub-Saharan African Cervical Cancer Working Group (CCWG). He is on the Governing Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), London, UK and the Ethics Board of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon France. He is an adjunct Professor at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

 

A widely travelled man, Prof Adewole is a Patron of the Boys Brigade, He is married with children and grandchildren.