Keynote Speaker
Dr Modupe Elebute MBBS (Lagos); MD (London); FRCP; FRCPath
After qualifying in Medicine from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 1986, Dr Elebute completed postgraduate training in Medicine and Haematology at centres of excellence in London, including St Bartholomew’s Hospital, St George’s Hospital and The Royal Marsden. Dr Elebute also received a prestigious Leukaemia Research Fellowship and gained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of London for her ground-breaking work.
In the UK, Dr Elebute has held Consultant and Honorary Senior Lecturer posts at St George’s Hospital & Medical School, the UK National Blood Transfusion Service and King’s College Hospital and has a well-established private practice at the Spire and Lister Hospitals. Dr Elebute was involved in the development of the undergraduate Haematology curriculum at St George’s University of London and Postgraduate Director & Educational Supervisor for University of London’s Haematology Postgraduate Training Programme for several years.
In Nigeria, she has worked at the Lagoon Hospitals, where she was instrumental in developing the pathology laboratory and sickle cell clinics.
She has a passion for research; has been Principal Investigator for clinical trials and a large study in Blood Transfusion funded by a £1.8million grant from the UK Department of Health. Dr Elebute is widely published in scientific journals and textbooks. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Pathologists and a Member of the British Society of Haematology and the American Society of Haematology.
Passionate about giving back, Dr Elebute helped to set up The Sickle Cell Club of Lagos whilst still at medical school! She is Patron of Build Africa and past-Trustee of The Walkabout Foundation. She is married with children.
Panelists
*Emeritus Professor*
Professor Akin Abayomi is a specialist in Internal medicine, Haematology, Biosecurity, environmental health and Human development. He received his First degree in Medicine at the Royal Medical College of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in University of London, with fellowship from both Royal College of Medicine and Pathology in the United Kingdom and the College of Medicine of South Africa.
His Focus has been mainly on the concept of emerging infectious diseases and the development of laboratory and clinical capacity in Africa.
Professor Abayomi was the Chief Pathologist and Head of the Division of Haematology at the University of Stellenbosch's Faculty of Medicine Science in 2009 in Cape town, South Africa. He was also a Consultant at the University of West Indies and University of Zimbabwe. He has been exposed to a vast variety of geographical variations and disease patterns within the field of Internal Medicine having worked in diverse countries of the world.
Akin Abayomi was the Chair of the H3Africa Consortium Data and Biospecimen Access Committee, as well as the Founder of the Global Emerging Pathogen Consortium which was entrenched at the peak of the Ebola outbreak to address Biosecurity concerns in Africa. He was a Consultant to the Lagos State Biosecurity and Genomics Project in 2014. He was a member of the Board and Honorary Professor to the Center for Biosecurity Studies, University of the West Indies. Cave hill Campus, Barbados, Caribbean. (2018), as well as a Professor of Medicine at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research in Lagos, Nigeria (2018),
Akin Abayomi was a member of the African Academy of Science Committee on Data Governance and also the Lead Consultant on the Biobank, Biosecurity and Biodata Rescue project in Sierra Leone and Lagos Nigeria. He is consulting for the Lagos State Biosecurity project and the West Africa Health Organisation Biosecurity and Biobanking framework to service the ECOWAS member. Professor Akin Abayomi is now the Honourable Commissioner for Health in Lagos state, Nigeria under the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
Dr. Annette Akinsete
Dr. Annette Akinsete is a woman of many parts - a Consultant Public Health physician, a teacher and a broadcaaster. She is currently the National Director and CEO of Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria, where she is pioneering innovative means of ensuring that persons with sickle cell live normal, productive lives.
Prior to this, Akinsete was Director of Public Health in the Federal Ministry of Health for many years and represented the Federal Government of Nigeria at several global meetings and conferences worldwide.
As a Public Health Physician, she has worked in every level of government in Nigeria – local, State and Federal. At global level, she has contributed to World Health Organisation (WHO) publications on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), served as WHO Fellow in Geneva and as UN Cares Facilitator at the United Nations HQ in New York.
A member of the Board of University of Ibadan Research Foundation, Dr. Akinsete continues to support the formation of young girls as a Brownie Owl.
Ms. Iguehi Aikhomu
My name is Iguehi Aikhomu, I am a first year Nutrition student at the University of Reading. I am a Sickle Cell survivor as I had a Bone Marrow Transplant in December 2019, meaning I am Sickle Cell free. I run the Ehime Foundation (@ehimefoundation) where I document what life with Sickle Cell is like so I can spread awareness, as well as work towards driving statistics down for Sickle Cell in Nigeria.
