On March 6, 2020, applications for the One Health Advocacy and Mentorship (OHAM) program closed. Shortlisting, interviews and final selection of candidates for the program will be conducted over the next 2 weeks. At the program’s inception, all selected Fellows will be paired for mentorship with our distinguished high-level professionals who are well-accomplished in their various fields of work and are well-versed in the field of One Health. It is indeed an opportunity to be mentored by them.
Meet our OHAM MENTORS!
Professor Folorunso Oludayo FASINA
Country Team Leader, ECTAD FAO Tanzania
Folorunso Fasina is a veterinarian, researcher, and a veteran development professional. He is currently the Country Team Leader at the Emergency Centre for Trans-boundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Tanzania. He graduated from the University of Ibadan with a DVM degree and proceeded to complete two PhDs from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and Utrecht University, Netherlands respectively. He previously worked with the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, Nigeria from 2001 to 2011 and the University of Pretoria from 2011 to 2016. He moved to the FAO of the United Nations in 2016 and has subsequently held management positions in FAO Kenya, before moving to his current position in FAO Tanzania. He has over 120 peer-reviewed publications in international peer-reviewed journals and has supervised over 30 students from many African countries. His interests are in classical and spatio-temporal epidemiology, infectious disease modelling, animal health economics, One Health, and antimicrobial resistance.
Deaconess Foluke Omotayo AREOLA
Fisheries, Aquaculture & Quarantine Professional
Foluke Omotayo Areola, is a Seasoned Fisheries Professional, Consultant, Administrator, and Facilitator. She is the first Federal Director of Fisheries Quarantine in Nigeria, the first Female acting Federal Director of Fisheries & Aquaculture and First Female acting Federal Director of Fisheries of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Nigeria. She is a distinguished Fellow of the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) and is the association’s first female National President. She is the Patron and Member of the Governing Council of the Association of Ornamental Live Fish Farmers and Exporters of Nigeria (AOFFEN), an Advisory Board Member and Director of Aquatic hub Afrique Network, a Board of Trustee of the National Fish Association of Nigeria (NFAN) and a member of African Women Fish Processors and Traders Network (AwFihnet) Nigeria Chapter. She holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Zoology (1977), a Master of Science degree in Zoology (1980) from the University of Ibadan and a Post-graduate Diploma in Fisheries Management (Temperate & Tropical) from the Humberside College of Higher Education in Grimsby, England (1984). She has varied and wide training and experiences for the past 40 years in Fisheries and Aquaculture, Quality Control, Quarantine, Value Chain Development, Policy, Governance, Trade Facilitation, Gender, and Climate Change. She was a member of the pioneer steering committee of the NEPAD/ International Partnership for African Fisheries (2009 – 2014), was the Secretary to the Board of the Interpol Fisheries Crime Working Group (2013-2015) and facilitator of the Agriculture and Food Security Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) for almost a decade. She is innovative, energetic, mentors, trains and coaches the youth and women in fisheries and aquaculture.
Dr. Stephen AKAR
Senior Field Epidemiologist, NCDC
Stephen Akar is a Public Health Professional and an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist. Currently, he is a Senior Field Epidemiologist with the Nigerian Center for Disease Control (NCDC). He has over 13 years of experience in his field of work and has been involved in infectious disease surveillance and laboratory strengthening. He has provided management support for immunization activities across several states in Nigeria and has been involved in several epidemiological studies including investigation of Lassa fever outbreak (2016), Measles Outbreak (2012 to 2015) Evaluation of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) Surveillance System in (2012 to 2017), Quality Assessment of Malaria Microscopy among Laboratory Personnel and Suppliers (2018), and Retrospective Investigation of Monkeypox Outbreak in Lagos State, Nigeria (2019). He is also a member of the WHO STEPS NCD Survey Planning and Implementation Group organized by the NCDC (2017). He is a member of the following professional bodies – International Epidemiological Association (IEA), Society for Quality Assurance, USA, American Society for Microbiology, Medical Laboratory Science Council of Nigeria, Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria, Institute of Development Administration of Nigeria, and African Society for Laboratory Medicine. He is also a Registered Biomedical Scientist, Health and Care Professions Council in the United Kingdom
Mrs. Chaona Gertrude PHIRI-CHEWETU
Programme Manager, BirdWatch Zambia
Chaona Phiri-Chewetu is an Ecologist and Conservationist. She currently works as the Programme Manager at BirdWatch Zambia (BirdLife International in Zambia) where she designs, implements and monitors projects while identifying potential opportunities for new projects. She also oversees donor reporting and stakeholder engagement.
She acquired her BSc degree in Ecology and Wildlife Management from the University of Zambia, and completed a Master of Science in Biodiversity Wildlife and Ecosystem Health with the University of Edinburgh. At BirdWatch, she led the laudable project work on the Vulture crisis, pioneering the first-ever vulture safe zones initiative in Africa, specifically in Zambia using lessons learned from Asia in an effort to ensure that the birds have safe food zones thus reducing the risk of poisoning. This was made possible in partnership with landowners who are involved in livestock farming in Zambia.
Chaona is an alumnus of the Tropical Biology Association and the Conservation Leadership Programme in Africa.
Mrs. Ngozi Margaret OGUGUAH
Principal Researcher, Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, (NIOMR)
Ngozi Oguguah is a researcher, ocean conservation advocate and environmental specialist. She currently works at the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research, (NIOMR) where she has been actively involved in several research and policy projects that provide government officials and stakeholders with data and information that guide environmental regulations. She is currently focusing her expertise on research that is monitoring the concentration of pollutants (heavy metals) in selected fish species from the Lagos Lagoon and its potential effect on human health and regional research on microplastics in fish.
In addition, she works with several other organizations, contributing her expertise in various capacities. She is an African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) Fellow where she contributes to environmental awareness with regards to best practices in research and policymaking; and its impact on humans especially women and children. She is also a mentor at Cherie Blair Foundation, where she creates awareness of opportunities in the agricultural sector through model events, seminars, workshops, community outreach, sharing through social media. She is a mentor of the Global Impact program of World Pulse, where she supports a Global Impact leader in articulating and implementing her project. She is also the first African board member of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography and is a mentor in the 1000 girls’ program of New York Academy of Sciences. She is very passionate about mentoring, networking and collaborative research and her lifelong passion is to empower and build the capacity of youth and women in science fields.
Dr. Adetayo AMID
Researcher and Lecturer, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Adetayo Amid is a Veterinary Surgeon, Researcher and Lecturer. He has over 12 years of combined private veterinary practice and academia. Currently, he is a small animal surgeon, researcher, and lecturer at the Department of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State in Nigeria. In his capacity, he teaches small animal soft tissue surgery, small animal orthopedic surgery, large animal soft tissue surgery, large animal lameness and diagnostic imaging; and is also responsible for the surgical management of cases presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
He is a recipient of the North American Veterinary Community International scholarship as well as the African Small Companion Animal Network scholarship in Florida, USA. In 2017 and 2018 respectively, he was awarded a Clinician International Scholarship to receive clinical training on current approaches in internal medicine, diagnostics, surgery and preventive medicine at Uniontown Veterinary Clinic and Belpar PetCare Centre respectively in Ohio, USA. In the past, he has also worked as a sales representative for a veterinary drug marketing company and as a Veterinarian and Farm Manager for a 60,000-capacity poultry farm. As an experienced mentor, two of his mentees are recipients of both local and international scholarships. One of them is Mr. Ojodare Timothy, who is a scholarship recipient of The Society for Veterinary Medical Ethics 2020 Alice Villalobos Essay Award, while the other mentee is Miss Abdulkareem Lateefah who received 2020 Sozo Youths in Development Fellowship Award in respect of her advocacy for Environmental Health and Preventive Medicine.
Dr. Kelvin Nyariaro MOMANYI
World Animal Protection (Africa Regional Office), Kenya
Kelvin Momanyi is a researcher with over 8 years of professional and research experience in One Health, Veterinary Medicine, Animal Welfare and public science communication. He was the recipient of the Young Veterinarian of the Year Award (2016/17) conferred by the Kenya Veterinary Association for his active involvement and contribution to matters of veterinary medicine in Kenya. He currently works as a Campaigns Officer for the World Animal Protection (Africa office) where he provides specialized campaigning expertise in ongoing and emerging work within the Farming campaigns in Africa. Previously, he worked as a Research Associate for the International Livestock Research Institute where he was involved in piloting an integrated surveillance system for 15 zoonotic pathogens under the ZooLinK suite of projects. His interests are in championing the One Health discipline and the benefits that come from multidisciplinary collaborative approaches, which resulted in him forming the Transdisciplinary Consultants envisioned to improve the lives of all species, human and animal, through smart One Health application. His previous research has been on the evaluation of the implementation of One Health in Kenya using the NEOH One Health framework. He also previously worked on a study exploring One Health and cancer in humans and dogs.
Dr. Temitope O. SOGBANMU, PhD
Environmental Toxicologist, Lecturer, Department of Zoology, Unilag and Project Lead, Evidence Use in Environmental Policymaking in Nigeria (EUEPiN)
Temitope Sogbanmu is an Environmental Toxicologist and Lecturer at the University of Lagos Nigeria. She holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Management and her research focuses on the risk assessment and management of organic pollutants in various environmental media using classic and emerging ecotoxicology tools. This is with a view to develop and provide targeted environmental management advice to regulators/policy makers. She is an active researcher with 40+ refereed journal articles and conference publications to her credit. Dr Sogbanmu has supervised 35+ undergraduate and postgraduate researchers in the last six (6) years. Some of the students mentored by her have published journal articles from their research, received local and international research grants, fellowships and scholarships. In fact, one of her Masters Student and mentee is currently filing a patent based on his research output. She has received a number of awards and grants including the prestigious L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science in Sub-Saharan Africa award 2014, TWAS-DFG Cooperation Visits fellowship 2019, the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) Evidence Leaders Africa Seed Grant, 2020. Dr Sogbanmu is an Affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences, member of the Nigerian Young Academy, and member of the Board of Trustees, Society for Environmental Toxicology and Pollution Mitigation. She has served as an Ecology/Waste Management expert on review panels constituted by the Federal Ministry of Environment in Nigeria for Environmental Impact Assessment draft reports since 2018. She is an advocate of the UNSDGs, science communication, and evidence for policy and researcher visibility for societal impact.
Dr. Shehu SHAMSUDEEN
Veterinarian
Shehu Shamsudeen is a veterinarian and livestock specialist with over 10 years of experience. He is the founder and Chief Veterinary Officer of Ambuvet Consults, a highly recognized rural animal health services in Nigeria. He holds a DVM degree and an MSc in Preventive Veterinary Medicine. He is also currently rounding up his Consultant Fellowship in Preventive Veterinary Medicine. His veterinary practice is largely focused on using preventive medicine to improve livestock and poultry production while addressing poverty and malnutrition. The practice also uses a social enterprise model to improve access to veterinary medicines and services in rural communities of Northern Nigeria. Through his work, he has attracted several grants opportunities on social innovation and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, his team at Ambuvets has successfully mentored over 30 young veterinarians and animal health practitioners, agribusinesses, livestock management, and veterinary practice
Dr. Abbey IKUDAISI
Deputy Director, DPEA, Consulate of Canada, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Abbey Ikudaisi is an Environmental Health Consultant. Currently, he is the Deputy Director of the Directorate on Environmental Assessment and Planning at the Consulate of Canada in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. In this position, he leads, plans and coordinates environmental health projects while working with sector consultants in the State. He has over 14 years work experience in environmental management, economic planning and project management, having worked in both the private and public sector in Nigeria, UK, US, Switzerland, Ghana and Brazil. He is an alumnus of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and London School of Economics, UK, and he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Health & Environmental Management.
Dr. Tosin AFOWOWE
Virologist and Veterinarian
Tosin Afowowe is a Virologist working with the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) He obtained his DVM and Master of Science in Virology degrees from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. His current role involves laboratory diagnosis of Lassa fever, Yellow fever, Influenza, Monkeypox, etc. He is experienced in laboratory techniques including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), Cell Culture, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Mutagenesis, etc. Prior to this, he was a grant manager for the US-CDC Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) funds. Previously he has worked with abattoirs, as a salesperson for poultry feeds, drugs, and vaccines, and conducted a private practice in small animal medicine. He has also been involved in sales and training on the use of laboratory equipment. He is currently obtaining his Ph.D. degree at Nagasaki University and is very interested in research studies on the Lassa virus.
Dr. Mustapha ASHIRU
Disease Surveillance and Public Health Consultant
Dr Ashiru M Mustapha is a disease surveillance and public health consultant. He is the Surveillance Officer and the Rabies Control focal person at the Department of Veterinary Public Health & Epidemiology, Kebbi State Government where he works to strengthen the veterinary surveillance and health care system within the state. He has also worked as a Consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) Plateau Field Office on the yellow fever prevention and mass vaccination campaign, providing technical support to the Plateau State Primary Healthcare Board and the Ministry of Health in coordinating and improving Yellow fever vaccine uptake in all the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 225 wards, while ensuring that all eligible target age groups were reached. In the past, he has also supported the LGA Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNO) in strengthening Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) & epidemic-prone disease surveillance during outbreaks response and sample collection. Furthermore, as part of the Polio Eradication Strategy, he has supported several rounds of supplemental immunization activities (OBR, IPDS, NIPDS) and improved the capacity of health care providers providing immunization services.
Dr Ashiru holds a DVM degree from Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto and Masters Degree in Public Health (MAAUN). He also holds several professional certificates including Professional Certificate in Monitoring & Evaluation of Public Health Programs (ABU ), Professional Certificate in Environmental Public Health (BUK), Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration (UDUS), and the WHO online certificate in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response and Adverse Event following Immunization (AEFI). In addition, he is highly proficient in the use of Microsoft office, data and GIS tools including ODK, Health Mapper and QGIS.
Dr. Adewole Adekola
Biomedical Researcher
Adewole is a veterinarian and biomedical researcher with an interest in infectious diseases of public and livestock importance. He is a One Health enthusiast with a keen interest in public health, zoonosis and emerging disease emergency preparedness, control, and prevention. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), Masters in Veterinary Clinical Pathology (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) and a Masters in Public Health (University of Liverpool, UK). His professional experience over the last 8 years has spanned activities in small animal private practice, meat inspection, teaching and research and public health. He is a 2016 Commonwealth Shared Scholarship & 2018 Commonwealth PhD Scholar with several other awards and distinctions. He is currently a PhD student at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), University of London and a vocal advocate for implementation research and evidence-based clinical practices. As part of previous mentorship experiences, he has mentored several past and current Chevening, Commonwealth and MasterCard (to mention a few) award holders and is currently a mentor on the RVC PhD mentorship programme. His interest in research and public health is focused on the translational application of evidence towards the development of diagnostic, prophylactic, and therapeutic approaches/interventions suitable for developing countries socioeconomic conditions.
