Professor Femi Soyinka, former Provost of Obafemi Awolowo University’s College of Health Sciences at Ile-Ife, has died.
He was Professor Wole Soyinka’s younger brother and the 1986 Nobel Laureate in Literature. According to a family statement, Mr Soyinka died in the early hours of Tuesday at his home in Kukumada Village, Ibadan, Oyo State, at the age of 85.
Professor Femi Soyinka was born in 1937 and graduated from the University of Heidelberg with a Medical degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) in 1964 and a Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1965.
Prof. Femi Soyinka specialised and practised as a Dermatologist, Venereologist and Allergologist at the University of Giessen in 1969.
In 1972, he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Hadassah Medical School, (MPH) Israel.
He was an outstanding academic for 30 years, attaining various positions from Chief Medical Director to Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and the Provost of College of Health Sciences of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
He was also involved in extensive research work on Tropical Skin Diseases and Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in collaboration with the Federal government, international donor agencies and organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP, DFID, the British Council; and the International Development Research Centre, Canada.
He was involved in several types of research in the field of HIV/AIDS as a leader and worked as a consultant to various international and local agencies including the World Health Organization, DFID, UNDP and the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health based on his extensive experience in the subject in various parts of the country.
He is survived by his wife, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren
Source:www.independent.ng
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