Professor Foluso Owotade Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Nigeria

Professor Foluso Owotade is a dental surgeon with multiple competencies in Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Biology, Molecular Biology, Biostatistics and Epidemiology. He is also quite ICT proficient and has a mastery of several software packages. He is a research leader with 35 years of medical and dental practice, 16 years as a professor and has mentored several generations of undergraduate and postgraduate students who are also leaders in healthcare across the world. He has experience in Global Health which includes designing, implementing and evaluating public health programmes and research projects. He has previously served as a Member of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR)/International Dental Federation (FDI) Expert Committee on Global Oral Health Inequalities (GOHIRA) in 2011. His research focus includes Oral Aspects of HIV infection and the interaction of oral and systemic health and he has pioneered cutting-edge research in this area with the discovery of 26 novel strains of Candida albicans and laying a foundation for understanding yeast infection and virulence in vulnerable populations like HIV positive individuals. He has undergone training in leadership and health systems strengthening and has occupied leadership positions in the university and teaching hospital thereby gaining tremendous experience in administration. He was Dean and Vice Dean, of the Faculty of Dentistry at different times and was a member of the Business Committee of the University Senate. He pioneered Oral Medicine training at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife and the centre is renowned in West Africa for the specialty. He also previously served as Director of Clinical Services and Training and Acting Chief Medical Director, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. His administrative acumen has yielded indelible changes in all these administrative positions and has brought innovation to healthcare delivery and administration. He is a student of sustainability and has very lofty and far-reaching solutions to the operations and processes of an institution such as a university. He is a mature, cerebral and amiable personality with excellent people skills.