Dr. Bolanle Oyeledun is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at the Centre for Integrated Health Programs, a position she has held from September 2013 till date. She began her public health career at the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria, where she was instrumental in developing the first ever National Adolescent Health policy and Guidelines in 1999 during her time as the adolescent health focal point. Dr Bolanle Oyeledun received her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Lagos in 1995, and a Master’s of Science Degree in Community Health and Health Management from University of Heidelberg, Germany. Prior to this, she received her MBBS from the University of Ibadan in 1987 and holds a certificate in Health Management from the Harvard school of Public Health, Boston, United States of America.
An associate fellow of the National Post Graduate Medical College (Public Health), Nigeria (equivalent to MRCP UK), she was also a Gates-Packard visiting fellow on the Population Leadership Program of the University of Washington Seattle, USA. (2001-2002). She is a Fellow, of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) (FNIM) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Directors (FIoD) Nigeria. She worked with the Johns Hopkins University/Center for Communications Programs (JHU/CCP) Nigeria between 2000 and 2005, where she rose to become the deputy country director. In 2005, she became an Associate Research Scientist at the Columbia University, International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP New York where she worked on PMTCT programs in Swaziland and Lesotho. She later became the Country Director for ICAP Nigeria from 2006 to 2011 where she was seconded to head the new local NGO, Center for Integrated Health Programs (CIHP). Since then, she has gone ahead to lead CIHP to win grants on The Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria, WHO/CIDA/INSPIRE: Lafiyan Jikin Mata, WHO/CIDA funded 3 country implementation science research Project, The PEPFAR/CDC funded “Strengthening Skills and Competencies of Care Providers for Enhanced Service Delivery (Scope) Project” Project, The Bridging the Gaps and Enhancing Sustainability through Policy Advocacy and Leveraging Resources to Undeserved States (BRIDGES & BRIDGES PLUS) Projects, the “Partnering Effectively to End AIDs Through Result and Learning” (PEARL) Project and The MTN Foundation (YDDMIS) Yellow Doctors Mobile Medical Clinic Scheme amongst others.
She was the first ever elected female chairperson of the Technical Review Panel (TRP) of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) Geneva, Switzerland: 2008 to 2011 where she led the TRP reforms. She also chaired the Independent Review Committee (IRC) of the Gavi Alliance from 2014 to 2018, and was reappointed as the vice chair of the IRC from 2022. Dr. Bolanle Oyeledun also served as the Health Systems Strengthening focal point for the Global Fund between 2013 and 2017, and was a member of the PPR FIF/Pandemic Fund Working Group 1 and Working Group 3 (2022-2023) for the World Bank, as well as a Co-Chair on the ITAD: Health Systems Strengthening Evaluation Collaborative (HSSEC) (2021-2023). She continues to demonstrate excellent leadership in Public Health and in HIV/AIDS activities with an experience of working with Governments across Sub –Saharan Africa, specialized foundations (GAVI Alliance, The Global Fund for AIDS Treatment and Malaria), U.N agencies in particular UNAIDS, WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF as well as international and local non-government organizations. She was appointed a member of the HIV Control Working Group (HCWG) (2024-Till Date), and is a member of the National Advisory Committee for SAYPHIN. She serves on the Board of Directors of Zankli Medical Services Limited, Member Board of Trustees, Redeemers University of Nigeria (RUN), and the Board of CIIC-HIN Centre for Impact, Innovation and Capacity Building for Health Information Systems and Nutrition.
She has over thirty (30) scientific papers and articles in scientific journals and books. In 2018, she started “Candid conversations with Bola O”, a face to face dialogue to encourage women (and men!) to come together and share experiences on issues that are not often talked about in the Nigerian society.
Her work experience spans across Nigeria, United States of America, Ghana, Tanzania, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Mauritius, Swaziland, Lesotho, Nepal, Sudan North, Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, DPRKorea, Pakistan and Mozambique.
She has amassed twenty-five years of progressive public health experience, including leadership roles, spanning international, national, and sub-national positions across a range of Strategic planning, Policy development, Disease Control, Maternal & Child Health; HIV Prevention, Care and Treatment; Adolescent Health and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Programs. She has worked at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC), at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) an International Development & Relief Agency; at the Geneva headquarters of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and currently at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she leads complex health portfolios (with a combined value of $141.6M+) through all stages of the funding cycle: concept design, proposal coordination, grant negotiation, implementation oversight, performance management, fiduciary and reputational risk management. She deploys consensus building skills in multistakeholder engagements that are a necessity in global public health.
Two of Charity’s proud achievements include co-leading Nigeria’s successful roll out of the Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) of HIV using dried blood spots (DBS), an innovative and transformative initiative, resulting in an award by the US Department of State in Nigeria, in recognition of her role; Second is leading the Gates Foundation’s catalytic support to seven Nigerian states to install and adopt the Group Antenatal (G ANC) model which has recorded 1,028,766 pregnant enrollees across 81,473 cohorts formed between Jan 2021 and Feb 2023.
Charity has built and managed multi-culturally diverse teams in fast paced settings to deliver complex and ambitious strategic mandates. She has successfully managed teams that were diverse across social norms, ethnicities, race, academic backgrounds, religious affiliations, and technical expertise. She has received structured training in culturally sensitive team building, and in applying cultural competencies in public health practice and leadership.
She is a life-long learner and learns from everyone and from every situation. She leads with empathy, with a transformational mindset, and with authenticity. She is undeterred by ambiguity, and intentional about transforming initial ambiguity into functional form. She is an incurable optimist in her public health practice and leadership, and her approach to life.
Her personal philanthropy includes board service on three non-profit boards including that of the Global Alliance for Surgery, Obstetrics, Trauma and Anesthesia care (G4 Alliance). She founded The Next Hundred Initiative and co-founded Women in Public Health Leadership, Africa (WIPHLA). Her personal philanthropy has resulted in HPV vaccination of girls aged 9-15 years in communities in Benue state Nigeria; in the equipping and creation of job opportunities for young public health stewards to save lives and to build sustainable systems for health; and in the creation of coaching content with global public health leaders, used to kit young public health stewards.
Charity completed her medical training at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos. She holds a master’s in public health (MPH) from the same institution and holds an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), both of the University of London. completed her doctoral studies (DrPH in Public Health Leadership) from
Gilling’s School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. USA
