Dr. Bamgboye M. Afolabi was born in Freetown, Siera Leone, one of the countries in West Africa, the third of eight children. Both of his parents were educationists – his father the Principal of Secondary Schools and his mother, a French lecturer and eventually a senior staff at the Federal Ministry of Education. Dr. Afolabi spent his early years attending primary schools in the old western Region of Nigeria and later concluded both his secondary education and higher science education at St. Gregory’s College where he had Grade 1 in his West African Examination Council and at Federal School of Science in Lagos, Nigeria graduating in Physics, Chemistry and Biology in 1970. His father had earlier secured an admission for him to study Medicine at either Trinity College Dublin or University of Melbourne in Australia, but the passing of his father in 1969 cut short this dream. As an adolescent, Dr. Afolabi travelled to UK, France, Canada, and Germany in search of education. He briefly attended Maximillan-Ludwig University in Munich, Germany but has to withdraw from there because of lack of financial support. He eventually was given admission to Lincoln University, Jefferson City Missouri where in 1978 he graduated with his first degree, Bachelor of Science, in Molecular Biology and Genetics under Professor Nathan Cooke. Following his graduation, he returned to his country Nigeria, went through the one-year National Youth Service Corp, and returned to school to study Medicine at the College of Medicine University of Lagos (CMUL) graduating in 1984 (MBBS) and later with MPhil and MSc, . He served his medical internship at the General Hospital, Marina Lagos (Medical and Surgical postings), Lagos Island Maternity Hospital (Obstetrics and Gynecology posting) and at the Massey Street Children Hospital (Pediatric posting). His ultimate goal however was to be involved in medical research, which led him to be employed at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, starting as a Junior Research Fellow in 1985 and ending as Chief Medical Research Fellow in 2004, a period that he published about 80 papers in peer-review journals. In June 2000, he applied for and got a Sabbatical leave to work at the World Health Organization (WHO) Nigeria Office (NIE) as National Professional Officer – Malaria. He contributed to Nigeria’s hosting of the Roll Back Malaria Summit under the auspices of the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo and the then WHO Director General, Gro Harlem Brundtland. Later in 2011, While in WHO, Dr. Afolabi was appointed Chairman, Integrated Vector Management, National Malaria Control Committee, Federal Ministry of Health. Dr. Afolabi obtained Master in Public Health (MPH) from University of Liverpool, UK, and in 2013 he bagged Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) from Atlantic International University, Hawaii, USA. His other academic achievements include Post Graduate Diploma in Research Methodology from Indian Institute of Public Health and Certificate in Basic Health Economics from World Bank, Washington DC, 2012.
