Isaac Folorunso Adewole FAS (born 5 May 1954) is a Nigerian professor of gynaecology and obstetrics. He was minister of health of Nigeria from November 2015 to May 2019 under the Cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari. He is a former vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, and president of the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer. Prior to his appointment as the 11th substantive vice-chancellor of the university, he served as provost at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, the largest and oldest medical school in Nigeria. His research interest is in the area of human papillomavirus, HIV, and gynaecologic oncology, a specialised field of medicine that focuses on cancers of the female reproductive system, including ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, vaginal cancer, cervical cancer, and vulvar cancer. Adewole is a member of the governing council of Adeleke University and chairs the National Panel on Cervical Cancer Control Policy. He is the only Nigerian professor appointed as member of the Council of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. He was appointed to serve as a member of the international advisory board of the African Cancer Institute, a comprehensive cancer centre in sub-Saharan black Africa. In 2014, he celebrated his 60th birthday. In a public lecture held at the International Conference Centre of the University of Ibadan, it was recalled how maligners tried relentlessly to sabotage his appointment as the vice-chancellor of the institution in 2010. The chairman of the 60th birthday celebration was Wole Olanipekun, a legal luminary, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, and a past Pro-Chancellor of the university. He described Adewole as a "cat not only with nine lives, but one with 18 lives, who surmounted all the travails and conspiratorial petitions hatched against him by his maligners." In 2012, he was elected as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science, the apex academic organisation in Nigeria. He was inducted into the academy along with Professor Mojeed Olayide Abass, a Nigerian professor of computer science at the University of Lagos, and Professor Akinyinka Omigbodun, the president of the West African College of Surgeons and former provost of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan. In 2014, he was appointed as a member of Adeleke University's governing council and in June 2015 he was appointed as a member of Pan-African University's governing council. Pan-African University is a post-graduate training and research network of university apex in five regions, supported by the African Union. On 28 March 2015, he was appointed as the Independent National Electoral Commission's Collation Officer in Lagos State for the Nigerian general election, 2015 and on 11 April, he served as returning officer for the Lagos State gubernatorial election. On 11 November 2015 he was appointed Minister for Health of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Early life Adewole was born on 5 May 1954 in Ilesa, a city in Osun State in southwestern Nigeria. His parents are traders, and his choice of career was informed by his father, who was an agent of the United Africa Company, a British company that principally traded in West Africa during the 20th century. His initial plan was to choose a career in aeronautics, particularly aerospace engineering, though his school guidance counselor suggested subjects that were useful for a career in medicine. In 1960, he attended Ogudu Methodist Primary School, Ilesa, where he spent one year, and Methodist School, Oke Ado in Ibadan, where he also spent one year before completing his primary education at St .Mathias Demonstration School, Akure. He later attended Ilesa Grammar School, where he obtained a Grade I certificate with distinction in 1970 and a Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 1972. In October 1973, he enrolled at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan; there he obtained an MBBS degree and, in 1978, won the Glaxo Allenbury Prize for outstanding performance in paediatrics.
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