The University of Lagos has produced its first-ever female Vice Chancellor, Professor Folashade Ogunshola.
A professor of Microbiology at the College of Medicine, Ogunshola will succeed the outgoing Vice Chancellor, Prof Toyin Ogundipe whose tenure elapses next month.
Ogunsola had served as acting Vice Chancellor when Prof Ogundipe was temporarily removed following the crisis that erupted in the institution two years ago, before his reinstatement by the Federal Government.
Ogunsola, the daughter of the late eminent geographer, Prof. Akin Mabogunje, has served the university in various capacities including the Provost of the College of Medicine and Deputy Vice Chancellor.
Born in 1958, Mrs Ogunsola holds a PhD in Medical Microbiology (University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff), an MSc in Medical Microbiology with Distinction (University of Lagos), a Diploma in Biomedical Techniques (University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff), and an MB.ChB (University of Ife).
She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists United Kingdom, a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians, a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College in Pathology, a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and Foundation Fellow of both the Nigerian Academy of Medicine and the Academy of Medicine Specialties.
Mrs Ogunsola has served as the acting Vice Chancellor, (Aug-Nov 2020), and former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Development Services, at the University of Lagos.
Before that, she had served as the Provost of the College of Medicine, the University of Lagos for four years making her the first female ever to occupy that position.
She is the Chairman of the Board, Tetfund South West Academic Publishing Centre and the only one of seven that has been able to start operations to date.
In areas of research, she has collaborated with the Harvard Chan School of Public Health and the North-western University in Chicago in the area of HIV, Ebola and capacity building, particularly through the Building Research and Innovation in Nigeria’s Science (BRAINS) grant.
She is also a reviewer for several scientific academic journals and an external examiner to many universities, including Kuwait University. She has been a consultant to the World Health Organisation since 2009 where she chairs various committees.
She was in Congo during the Ebola outbreak and was the team lead for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) during the 2014 Ebola disease outbreak in Nigeria. More recently, she was recently on the Lagos State Task Force set up during the recent COVID crisis and is a consultant to the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control and Africa Centre for Disease Control for Infection Prevention and Control. She is also the Chair of the WHO Guidelines Committee for Ebola as well as Chair of the Infection Control African Network based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Mrs Ogunsola is a recipient of various prestigious awards from both local and international bodies and has one hundred and forty-two publications in reputable academic journals and has co-authored four books.
She has supervised or co-supervised eight doctoral students and 61 master’s students.
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The Chairman of the University’s Governing Council, Senator Lanre Tejuosho had earlier promised that a new Vice Chancellor would be chosen through a credible and transparent process.
The University is scheduled to kick off a series of events to mark its 60th anniversary from Monday.