As Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa prepares to take over his new office as the new Director General of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, WuzupNigeria presents 10 things to know about the epidemiologist .

1

Adetifa graduated from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State with a medical degree and trained in Paediatrics and Child Health at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

2

After years of practice, he bagged a Fellowship of the West Africa College of Physicians in Paediatrics in 2005.

3

He is a Netherland-trained epidemiologist. The NCDC new boss studied Epidemiology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he bagged his MSC and PhD.

4

Until his present appointment Dr Ifedayo Morayo Adetifa was an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

5

Adetifa’s research interests are in vaccine impact/effectiveness studies, innovative approaches/surveillance tools for monitoring vaccination, Tuberculosis Epidemiology, and evidence synthesis including systematic reviews.

6

In 2018 he was awarded the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Fellowship. He also a member of the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordinating Committee and a member of the World Health Organisation, Africa Region’s (WHO-AFRO) Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group.

7

Adetifa served overseas as a Clinical Epidemiologist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kiliufi, Kenya.

8

His vaccine policy advisory roles include membership of the Kenyan National Immunisation Coordination Committee, the WHO AFRO Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (RITAG), the Advisory Group of the WHO Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme, and the WHO Technical Advisory Group on RSV vaccines.

9

He replaced the outgoing DG of the agency, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, who will assume his new position as the Assistant Director General of Health Emergency Intelligence at the World Health Organisation on November 1, 2021.

10

His appointment was officially confirmed on Monday by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) in a statement issued by Special Assistant to the president on Media & Publicity, Garba Shehu.