Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the "African Trilogy". Later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). In the West, Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States. Harvard Medical School (HMS) provides patient care, medical education, and research training through its 15 clinical affiliates and research institutes such as Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dana–Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Mount Auburn Hospital, McLean Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, The Baker Center for Children and Families, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Harvard Medical School also partners with newer entities such as Harvard Catalyst, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Center for Primary Care, and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.
Things Fall Apart is the debut novel of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. It depicts the events of pre-colonial life in Igboland, a cultural area in modern-day southeastern Nigeria, and the subsequent appearance of European missionaries and colonial forces in the late 19th century. It is seen as an archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first such novels to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the United Kingdom in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series.
The Warren Alpert Medical School is the medical school of Brown University, located in Providence, Rhode Island. Originally established in 1811, it was the third medical school to be founded in New England after only Harvard and Dartmouth. However, the original program was suspended in 1827, and the four-year medical program was re-established almost 150 years later in 1972, granting the first MD degrees in 1975.
The Yale School of Medicine is the medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
NYU Grossman School of Medicine is a medical school of New York University (NYU), a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1841 and is one of two medical schools of the university, the other being the NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine. Both are part of NYU Langone Health.
The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was once a college of the University of London. The college was established in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 1962 and is the oldest degree-awarding institution in Nigeria. Through its graduate network, the University of Ibadan has contributed to the political, industrial, economic and cultural development of Nigeria.
Howard Kyongju Koh is the former United States Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after being nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009.
Jim Yong Kim, also known as Kim Yong (김용/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019.
Mark Barnes is an American attorney serving as a partner in the Ropes & Gray health care and life sciences practice based in Boston. He was director of policy for the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, and associate commissioner for medical and legal policy for the New York City Department of Health under the mayoralty of David Dinkins. He worked on the National Health Care Reform Task Force in the Clinton Administration. He also has served as executive vice president of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and founded and directed the Harvard University HIV/AIDS treatment programs in Africa. His current legal and advocacy work includes a focus on the fields of research compliance, the ethics and regulation of clinical trials, medical privacy, and "big data" research. He is past president of the New York State Bar Association's Health Law Section.
Myron Elmer "Max" Essex is the Mary Woodard Lasker Professor of Health Sciences, emeritus in the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard University, chair of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health AIDS Initiative (HAI) in the department of immunology and infectious diseases, and chair of the Botswana–Harvard AIDS Institute in Gaborone, Botswana. Essex was one of the first to link animal and human retroviruses to immunosuppressive disease, to suspect that a retrovirus was the cause of AIDS, and to determine that HIV could be transmitted through blood and blood products to hemophiliacs and recipients of blood transfusions. With collaborators, Essex also provided the first evidence that HIV could be transmitted by heterosexual intercourse.
Babatunde Osotimehin was a Nigerian physician, who served as Minister of Health, and in 2011 became the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, holding the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, reappointed in August 2014 until his death. Osotimehin's interests were youth and gender, and he advocated for reproductive health and reproductive rights, particularly within the context of the HIV epidemic. One of his strengths was his reliance on data and evidence.
Dorothy Millicent Horstmann was an American epidemiologist, virologist, and pediatrician whose research on the spread of poliovirus in the human bloodstream helped set the stage for the development of the polio vaccine. She was the first woman appointed as a professor at the Yale School of Medicine and she held a joint appointment in the Yale School of Public Health.
Muhammad Ali Pate is a Nigerian physician and politician who is the current Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Nigeria since 2023. He's also a professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership in the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard University. He formerly served as the Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population and director of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) at the World Bank Group. Pate is also the former Minister of State for Health in Nigeria.
Agnes Binagwaho is a Rwandan Politician, pediatrician, co-founder and the former vice chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity (2017-2022). In 1996, she returned to Rwanda where she provided clinical care in the public sector as well as held many positions including the position of Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health of Rwanda from October 2008 until May 2011 and Minister of Health from May 2011 until July 2016. She has been a professor of global health delivery practice since 2016 and a professor of pediatrics since 2017 at the University of Global Health Equity. She has served the health sector in various high-level government positions. She resides in Kigali.
Nwando Achebe is a Nigerian-American academic, academic administrator, feminist scholar, and multi-award-winning historian. She is the Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History and the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the College of Social Science at Michigan State University. She is also founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of West African History. 19th Century, 20th Century, Cultural, Political, Religious, Social, Women & Gender
Arese Carrington is a Nigerian-American medical doctor, international public health consultant and human rights activist. She specializes in international public health programming and women's issues.
Valerie Ellen Stone is an American physician who is a professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. She serves as Vice Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital. She specializes in the management of HIV/AIDS, health disparities and improving the quality of medical education.
Jacqueline Nwando Olayiwola is an American family physician, public health professional, author, professor, and women's empowerment leader. She is the Senior Vice President and Chief Health Equity Officer of Humana and a chair and Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. Prior to her appointment at OSU, she served as the inaugural Chief Clinical Transformation Officer for RubiconMD, an eConsult platform that improves primary care access to specialty care for underserved patients. Olayiwola is dedicated to serving marginalized patient populations and addressing the social determinants through community and technology-based infrastructures of healthcare reform. She has published articles on the use of eConsults and telehealth to provide underserved patients with primary care treatments so that they have a low cost and efficient means of reaching specialized care. Olayiwola has founded numerous non-profits and healthcare start-ups such as GIRLTALK Inc, Inspire Health Solutions LLC, and the Minority Women Professionals are MVPs Program. She has been recognized at the national and international level for her work and efforts to educate, advocate and provide healthcare to those in need. She was named Woman of the Year by the American Telemedicine Association in 2019, and received the Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard School of Public Health in 2019, as well as being named one of America's Top Family Doctors from 2007 to 2008 by the Consumers Research Council of America.
