About Us
Our Leadership
List of registered trustees for Thomas Bassir Biomedical Foundation
The foundation’s leaders come from a broad range of backgrounds and have a diversity of expertise and experience. Our leaders are guided by the foundation’s mission to create opportunities for advancing knowledge in human and animal health through research, for the benefit of the Nigerian people
45+
Founded in 1974
208+
Small Research Grants
Professor Oladele O. Kale
Chairman Board of Trustees
Distinguished Epidemiologist and Professor of Preventive & Social Medicine
Professor Oladele Kale is a renowned epidemiologist and a distinguished Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine. He was born on November 19, 1938, in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. He received his education and training from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, the School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene at the University of Liverpool in England, and the Institute of Public Health at the University of Bristol, also in England.
He began his academic and professional career as a house officer in Medicine, Surgery and Paediatrics at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos. He later served as a Registrar at three hospitals in London, England between 1966 and 1970. He became a Senior Registrar in Preventive & Social Medicine (PSM) at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, and then a Lecturer/Consultant Physician at the University of Ibadan, where he served for 22 years, and attained the rank of Professor in 1982. During his time at the University of Ibadan, he held various positions including Head of, the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine (PSM), Head, of the Department of Epidemiology, Medical Statistics & Environmental Health, and Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Public Health of the College of Medicine.
Professor Oladele Kale has held leadership positions in two successful national disease eradication programs in Nigeria. These programs focused on eradicating Guinea-worm and Poliomyelitis, which were critical health challenges in the country. He was the National Chairman of the Task Force for the Nigerian Guinea-worm Eradication Programme, which was highly successful.
Professor Oladele Kale has been a significant contributor to the international health scene. He served as the chairman of the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (WHO/APOC) at the World Health Organization (WHO). Additionally, he has worked as a consultant for various organizations, including WHO/TDR, Carnegie Corporation, Carter Center, and the World Bank.
He is a respected professional and member of various international health associations, including the International Epidemiological Association, American Public Health Association, Royal Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, and Science Association of West Africa. He is a trustee of the Epidemiological Society of Nigeria, Common Heritage Foundation, and the Thomas-Bassir Biomedical Foundation, where he currently serves as Chairman.
He served as the Chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria and was also a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation for Tropical Medicine and the National Executive Council of the Nigerian Medical Association. Professor Oladele Kale has authored and co-authored over 200 original scientific articles that have been published in reputable peer-reviewed national and international journals. Additionally, he has written a dozen chapters in textbooks as well as numerous technical reports.
Professor Oladele Kale is an accomplished individual with numerous academic and professional achievements. He is a Fellow of several prestigious institutions, including the Nigerian Academy of Science, the Nigeria Medical College in Public Health, the West African College of Physicians, and the MFPH and PHM of the UK. He was awarded the 1998 Oritshejolomi Thomas Distinguished Fellowship. Professor Kale is also a two-time winner of the President Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Award for Guinea-worm eradication and was awarded the 1997 John Holt Medal of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. In addition, he received the Hallmarks of Labour Award for Outstanding Contributions in Medicine.
Professor Oladele Kale is happily married to Major General Aderonke Kale (rtd), who is a Consultant Psychiatrist and the first female General in the Nigerian Army. They are blessed with five children.
Professor E.O. Olapade-Olaopa
Trustee and Vice-chairman
Emiola Oluwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa is a Professor of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and a Consultant Urologist at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. A graduate of the University of Ibadan, his career spans surgery, urology, molecular biology, medical education, and health systems research and development. He is a Past Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and has been an Adviser on health-professionals training to several African countries, the WHO, and the United States and Norwegian Governments. He is currently a Member of the Councils of the West African College of Surgeons and the National Open University; Chairman of the African Medical Schools Association; and Chairman, Membership Section (Africa and the Middle-East), Societe Internationale d’Urologie. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences, Nigerian Academy of Medicine, and the Academy of Medical Specialties of Nigeria.
Chief Sunny Ndekwu
Trustee
Professor Olisa Sunny Ndekwu has expertise in Media and Communications. He graduated from the University of Ibadan and did his PhD at the University of Ibadan in 1983.
He has worked most of his life as a Teacher and a Communications/Media Practitioner. He was in Radio Nigeria for 2 years and spent another 18 years with the NTA Ibadan, where he was a Television Producer with multiple Award-winning Productions.
He transferred his Services to the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, where he spent another 15 years as the Director of the Biomedical Communication Centre till he Retired.
He started the Mass Communication Department Undergraduate Programme at Ajayi Crowther University in Oyo in 2005. He lectured Communication and Media Courses, with a specialization in Broadcasting for more than 18 years. It was his contribution as an Andrian.
Most of his publications are Television Documentaries, some of which won Awards both locally and internationally.
He was invited by the US government with 17 other Journalists for training at the VOA, in WASHINGTON, DC. It was based on one of the Award-winning Programmes, he produced for the NTA Ibadan that won the 1st position in the Documentary Category during NIFETEP 88 TV Competition in Nigeria.
Finally, for all those who enjoyed TV drama, (KOKO CLOSE} was created by him and produced for 5 years in NTA Ibadan from 1982. It was Award Winning. It went on syndication to about 10 other TV Stations.
Other important publications include Research Reports for the WHO, APOC, and FORD FOUNDATION. He was a Communications Consultant for these Organizations for a period when he was in the College of Medicine.
Others include publications in Public and Environmental Health and Issues in Costing HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiatives with NISER {2002}, and Environmental Communication in the Dynamics of National Developments in the Journal of International Academic Research for Multidisciplinary. {2014}.
He has two essential PATENTS which include some significant LOGOS currently in use.
1. LOGO for RIVER BLINDNESS for the WHO.
2. LOGO for BABY FRIENDLY INITIATIVE, {A mother Breastfeeding her Baby on her left side breast}. funded by JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY. It was Award Winning for the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
Professor Grace Gbotosho
Trustee
Prof. Grace Olusola Gbotosho studied Pharmacy at the University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University), Nigeria and obtained her M.Sc and Ph.D degrees in Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. She undertook part of her pre-doctoral training at the London School of Pharmacy, England. She is a Professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Ibadan. She is the Pioneer Head of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan and a Fellow of the prestigious Nigerian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Gbotosho heads the Malaria Research Laboratories, designated as a Centre of Excellence for Malaria Translational Research by the African Network for Drugs and Diagnostics Innovation (ANDi). The success of the research group is visible in the recorded extramural funding level, the establishment of a State-of–the-Art multidisciplinary malaria research laboratory that serves as a resource for research capacity building in infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa.The field site of the Laboratory is a designated sentinel site for clinical Antimalarial Drug Efficacy Testing by the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria providing data instrumental in supporting National Malaria Control efforts. Prof. Gbotosho’s career over the past 20 years has focused on Pharmacology, applications in discovery of novel interventions (diagnostics and therapeutics) for infectious diseases and elucidation of drug resistance in malaria. She has collaborated with partners across Africa, Asia, UK and USA. She has led as PI and Co-PI on international training grants (WHO/TDR, WHO/MIM/TDR, WellcomeTrust, International Society for Infectious Diseases) for developing young investigators in sub-Saharan Africa. She has supervised and mentored over 40 MSc and 15 PhD students. Prof. Gbotosho has 105 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and has served as an adviser to WHO/TDR at various consultation meetings in Asia and Europe.
Professor J.O. Olopade
Trustee
Professor James O. Olopade is a highly respected Professor of Neuroscience and Comparative Anatomy. He completed his postdoctoral training in Neurotoxicology and received prestigious fellowships from the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO), Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) and MacArthur. He also received a Grass Fellowship in Penn State College of Medicine, USA, University of Wurzburg, Germany, and Marine Biology Laboratory (MBL) Woodshole, USA.
Professor Olopade has an impressive track record of service, having served as head of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and member of the IBRO African Regional Committee. He held the position of President of the Society of Neuroscientists of Africa and currently sits as a Council member of the International Society of Neurochemistry (ISN).
Professor Olopade was the Editor in Chief of the Nigerian Veterinary Journal from 2011-2015 and is currently a Guest Editor of IBRO Neuroscience Reports. His research work is focused on craniofacial anatomy, environmental neurotoxicology, developmental neuroscience and neurovirology. He has received funding from the UI Research Foundation, The World Academy of Science (TWAS), TETFUND, IBRO, ISN, and AvH to support his research work.
Professor Iruka N. Okeke
Trustee
Iruka N Okeke is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and a Fellow of the Nigerian and African Academies of Science. Her research group uses microbiology, genetic and genomic methods to investigate the mechanisms bacteria use to colonize humans, cause disease and gain drug resistance. She also studies laboratory practice in Africa.
Iruka received B.Pharm. M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Obafemi Awolowo University (formerly University of Ife), Nigeria and post-doctoral training at the University of Maryland, USA and Uppsala University, Sweden. She has held Fulbright, International Federation for Science, Branco Weiss (Society-in-Science) and Institute for Advanced Studies (Berlin) fellowships. Iruka is author/ co-author of several scientific articles and chapters as well as the books Divining Without Seeds: The case for strengthening laboratory medicine in Africa (Cornell Univ Press) and Genetics: Genes, Genomes and Evolution (Oxford Univ Press). She editor-in-chief of the African Journal of Laboratory Medicine.
Board Members from Inception
| S/N | Names | Position | Membership Duration | Year of Death |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Professor H. Oritsejolomi Thomas | Chairman | 1974 to 1979 | 1979 |
| 2 | Professor. Olumbe Bassir | Trustee & Chairman | Trustee from 1974 to 1979, Chairman from 1979 to 2001 | July 2001 |
| 3 | Professor A.E. Boyo | Trustee | 1974 to 6th April 1990 | November 2004 |
| 4 | Professor Jibril Aminu | Trustee | 1974 to 2nd June 1995 | |
| 5 | Professor E.A Elebute | Trustee | 1974 to 5th April 2004 | 3rd February 2019 |
| 6 | J.A. Kushimo | Secretary | 1974 to 4th July 1986 | |
| 7 | Dr. M.S. Graham Douglas | Trustee | 1974 to July 1987 | 2nd July 1987 |
| 8 | Professor D.T. Okpako | Chairman Board of Trustees | Trustee from 26th October 1984 to 2001, Chairman from 2001to 12th December 2018 | 7th September 2020 |
| 9 | Mr. Charles Odekunle | Finance Controller | 7th March, 1986 to April 6, 1990 | |
| 10 | Professor Vidal Nottidge | Trustee | 4th May, 1988 to 2nd March, 2012 | 2nd December 2016 |
| 11 | Mr. Sydney Adedeji Bero | Finance Controller | July 6, 1990 to December 2020 | 26th Jan 2023 |
| 12 | Professor Oladele O. Kale | Chairman Board of Trsutees | Trustee from 30th January 2002 to December 2018, Chairman from January 2019 till date | |
| 13 | Professor John T. da Rocha-Afodu | Trustee | 30th January 2002 to 5 April 2004 | |
| 14 | Professor E. Olubunmi Olapade-Olaopa | Vice-Chairman, Board of Trustees | Trustee from 2nd March 2012 to April 2023, Vice-Chairman from April 2023 till date | |
| 15 | Professor Sunny O. Ndekwu | Trustee | 2nd March 2012, till date | |
| 16 | Professor Grace O. Gbotosho | Trustee | 8th September, 2016 till date | |
| 17 | Professor James O. Olopade | Trustee | 8th April, 2021 till date | |
| 18 | Professor Iruka N. Okeke | Trustee | 8th April, 2021 till date |
