The new director-general of Nigeria Centre for Disease Control Dr Ifedayo Adetifa obtained his medical degree at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State and trained in paediatrics and child health at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital.

He also received the fellowship of the West Africa College of Physicians in paediatrics in 2005.

He studied epidemiology at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he bagged his MSC and PhD.

Until his appointment, Adetifa was an associate professor of infectious diseases epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

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.

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.

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

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.