On 20 October 2025, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) announced the election of 90 regular members and 10 international members during its annual meeting. Election into the academy is prestigious as it is one of the highest honours in the fields of health and medicine. It is reserved for ‘extraordinary health and medicine leaders and researchers’. They are people who are adjudged to have ‘demonstrated excellence in tackling public health challenges, leading major discoveries, improving health care, advancing health policy, and addressing health equity.
The honour of being named among these selected few came to one of our own in the person of Professor Mayowa Owolabi, for being a leading physician scientist focused on the genomic epidemiology of stroke and chronic non-communicable diseases in Africa. He spearheaded discoveries of the dominant genetic and environmental risk factors for stroke and is in the vanguard of developing pragmatic interventions to reduce the global burden of stroke.
Professor Mayowa Ojo OWOLABI MBBS, MSc(distinction), DrM, MD, DSc, FMCP, FWACP, FRCP, FANA, FAHA, FAAN, FAAS, FAS, FAMedS, FTWAS, is a renowned Professor of Medicine; Director, Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine; and Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences (2018 to 2022), University of Ibadan.
He is an eminent scholar and global leader in medicine especially neurology, brain health and global health including community-based genomic epidemiology of non-communicable diseases, with a stroke phenotyping software patent (Reg.#: NG/PT/NC/2016/2007); over 490 peer-reviewed publications including in The Lancet, and Nature, with >221,000 citations and a Google Scholar h-index of 112. He is Associate Editor of the Stroke journal and several other top-tier Neurology and medical journals. He is a recognized global leader in medicine.
He is an outstanding scientist with several inventions/innovations including the ‘Seed of Life Model’ a conceptual model of holistic essence and quality of life; the HRQOLISP, a multiculturally-validated quality of life measure for stroke, available globally in various languages and countries; ‘stroke quadrangle’ and ‘brain quadrangle’, which are adopted globally as cardinal approaches for global interventions against stroke and for promoting brain health; ‘stroke levity scale’, a simple brief and valid stroke severity scale; ‘stroke recovery spiral’ a pathway to recovery after stroke tapping internal adaptation and psycho-spiritual wellbeing; and implementation cycle for translating evidence into policy and practice in the control of chronic diseases.
He led the largest study of stroke in Africa to unravel the dominant risk factors for stroke in Africa, including dyslipidemia, and discovered the dose-response protective effect of green leafy vegetables against stroke and hypertension. Working with legislators, his team translated this into a stroke bill and stroke prevention manual in Oyo State. He led the discovery of the association between APOL 1 and stroke, and the genome-wide association of novel SNPs near AADACL2 and microRNA (MIR5186) genes and stroke. He led the development of prediction models for stroke and hypertension, which have been developed into a mobile phone application for primary prevention of stroke in Africa.
He is the principal investigator of several research and training grants and co-investigator in several (with >$90 million), including Stroke Investigative Research & Educational Network (SIREN) grant (with the largest neurobiobank in Africa > 170,000 samples) from National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA; Systematic Investigation of Blacks with Stroke using Genomics (SIBS Genomics) R01NS107900. He is the pioneer Chair of the largest study of cardiovascular diseases in Africa (H3Africa-CVD WG with >55,000 subjects). He leads the African Biobank and longitudinal African Biobanks and Longitudinal Epidemiological Ecosystem (ABLE).
Ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally (2025), he is the most highly cited Nigerian in Scival 2021 to 2025. He is the winner of the 2021 World Stroke Organization Global Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Stroke Research. He is the fifth person so far to be awarded the DSc of the University of Ibadan (since inception >75 years ago)
Through his research projects and global networks, he has mentored over 20 PhD/MD doctorates and Postgraduate Medical College fellowships, and professors with many international and national awards, including the 2023 NAS Gold Medal Prize
He is a foremost leader in the global fight against stroke and a frontline leader in the fight against hypertension, stroke, and non-communicable diseases in Africa. He is currently leading the call for action against hypertension in Africa (ACHIEVE), working with the World Hypertension League, World Health Organization, and Resolve To Save Lives. He co-founded and chairs the WSO-Lancet Commission on Stroke, which characterized the state of stroke services across the globe and developed pragmatic solutions for reducing the global burden of stroke through the ‘stroke quadrangle’. He is also leading the ‘neurology revolution’ to promote brain health globally through the “neurology quadrangle” (comprising surveillance, prevention, acute care, and rehabilitation). He proposed the ‘neurology revolution’ and led a position paper with about 40 neurology organizations on how to promote brain health globally. He chairs the committee for domestication of the WHO-Intersectoral Global Action against neurological disorders in Africa. He chairs The Lancet Commission on Neurorehabilitation, currently developing pragmatic solutions to improve the quality of life of over 3.4 billion people with neurological conditions globally.
He is the pioneer Regional Vice-President, World Federation of Neurorehabilitation (Africa); member Board of Directors, World Stroke Organization; African Regional Director, World Hypertension League. He is the foundation Co-chair African Stroke Organization, and Member/Rapporteur of the WHO Technical Advisory Group on NCD (Research and Innovation). He is co-Lead of the African Research Universities Alliance-The Guild Universities Cluster of Excellence for non-communicable diseases. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, American Heart Association, Royal College of Physicians, Nigerian Academy of Science, African Academy of Science and Atria Academy of Science and Medicine (USA), and The World Academy of Sciences(the only African elected in 2024). He was elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA) in 2025. He is Chair (Scientific) Nigerian Genomics Consortium, and Member of, National Health Research Committee, Nigeria. He is the Academy Secretary, Academy of Medical Sciences (Nigeria)
Degrees/Credentials:
MBBS, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 1997
Certificate in Neurology, Charité University of Medicine, Berlin, Germany, 2006
Doctor medicinae (magna cum laude), Charité University of Medicine, Berlin; Humboldt University, Berlin, and Free University, Berlin, Germany, 2010
Certificate in Epidemiology & Global Health, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK, 2010
M.Sc. Biomedical Education with distinction, University of Ibadan, 2011
Foundation Doctor of Medicine MD degree, National Postgraduate College of Nigeria 2021
Doctor of Science, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2023
University Education:
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 1990 - 1997
Charité University of Medicine, Berlin, Germany, 2005 - 2006
Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, 2005 - 2006
Free University, Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 2005 - 2006
University of Dundee, Scotland, UK, 2010
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, 2009 – 2011
Professor and Head, Department of Neurology, University College Hospital, Ibadan
Director, Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Foundation Co-Chair, African Stroke Organization
Pioneering Regional Vice President (Sub-Saharan Africa) World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation
Member, Presidium, World Federation for NeuroRehabilitation
Regional Director (Sub-Saharan Africa), World Hypertension League
Foundation Co-Chair, African Stroke Organization
Lead Co-Chair, WSO-Lancet Commission on Stroke
Chair, Lancet Commission on Neurorehabilitation
Co-Lead Africa-Europe Centres of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Non-Communicable Diseases & Multimorbidity, African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) & The Guild Associate Editor, Stroke
Member, WHO Technical Advisory Group on NCD Research and Innovation
Member, WHO’s Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use (STAG-MNS)
Member, Board of Directors, World Stroke Organization
Member, Council, World Hypertension League Associate Editor, Stroke
Academy Secretary, Academy of Medical Sciences (Nigeria)
Chair, Scientific Committee, Nigeria Genomics Consortium
Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University of Ibadan (2018-2022)
FELLOWSHIPS
Fellow, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria in Neurology, FMCP, 2005.
Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, FAAN, 2017
Fellow of the Academy of Science (Nigeria), FAS, 2018
Fellow of the American Neurological Association, FANA, 2018
Fellow, Royal College of Physicians (London), FRCP, 2019
Foundation Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, FAMedS, 2021
Fellow, African Academy of Sciences, FAAS, 2021
Fellow, Atria Academy of Science and Medicine, New York, FAASM, 2022
Fellow, American Heart Association, FAHA, 2023
Fellow, West African College of Physicians, FWACP, 2023
Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences, FTWAS, 2025
Member, National Academy of Medicine (USA), MNAM, 2025