7th October, 2022
A Professor of Microbiology at the College of Medicine, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola on Friday emerged the first female Vice Chancellor of University of Lagos (UNILAG).
She is now the 13th substantive VC of the institution, after emerging the favourite for the top job among the seven candidates shortlisted for the institution’s top job.
Professor Ogunsola will succeed Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe whose five-year tenure elapses in November.
Born in 1958, Ogunsola is a Nigerian professor of medical microbiology, who specialized in disease control, particularly HIV/AIDS.
Ogunsola was provost of College of Medicine, University of Lagos and is reputed as being the first woman to occupy the position.
She was also the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Development Services) of the institution between 2017 and 2021. She was elected as the acting vice chancellor of University of Lagos on 24 August 2020, by the university’s senate.
Ogunsola was raised in University of Ibadan where her father, Akin Mabogunje lectured. As a child, she mimicked medical practitioners by using dolls as patients, while offering medical care to them.
She attended Queen’s College, Lagos. Between 1974 and 1982, she obtained her first degree from University of Ife and a master’s degree from College of Medicine, University of Lagos, then proceeded for her doctorate at University of Wales between 1992 and 1997.
Ogunsola was Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos for a short period in 2020 when the University was plunged into crisis as a result of the removal of the Vice Chancellor by the University Council.
Prior to being the deputy vice chancellor, she was the provost of College of Medicine, University of Lagos. Her research areas have been centered on the regulation and management of viral diseases, particularly HIV.
She is the principal investigator at AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN) at University of Lagos. She has also been the chairman of Infection Control Committee of Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Additionally, she is the chairman of the National Association of Colleges of Medicine in Nigeria.