SUNRISE – A renowned medical doctor and the current Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), Dr. Wale Okediran, has been appointed as an Adjunct Lecturer of the Institute of Health Humanities at the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) Ondo, Ondo State, Nigeria.
UNIMED’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Adesegun Fatusi, FNAMed, who disclosed this in a statement issued by the Head of the school’s Public Relations Unit, Temitope Oluwatayo, said the university is very excited to have Dr. Okediran join its staff. He expressed hope that students would gain maximally from Okediran’s wealth of experience as a medical practitioner, an award-winning author, newspaper columnist, biographer, film producer and literary administrator, to teach medical students as well as students of other health professions and health science fields, the art of Creative Writing.
UNIMED, which was established in December 2014, is Nigeria’s first specialised university of health and medical sciences and has the largest collection of health professional courses in the Nigerian university system. UNIMED recently established the Institute of Health Humanities for strengthening arts and humanities education in the health professions’ curricula.
This integration of humanities and health professions training, which has been in practice in many western medical schools, has been demonstrated to contribute significantly to the production of well-rounded and highly empathetic health personnel.
Dr Wale Okediran is also a former Member of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2003 to 2007 contributing to advocacy, regional dialogue and policy development, leading to improvements in health across Africa. He has rendered consultation services for several international and local development agencies such as Constella Futures International USA, National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, USIS, UNAIDS, NPHCDA, NACA, UNICEF, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria, The World Bank and Action Aid.
The film adaptation of his award-winning novel: TENANTS OF THE HOUSE is currently streaming on NETFLIX global network.
On Friday 28th October, 2022, Dr. Okediran delivered the ninth distinguished lecture of the University titled ‘Connecting Medicine and Literature: Reflections for University System and Health Professions Education in Nigeria.’
Dr. Okediran who will be working largely virtually, is offering his services to UNIMED on a pro-bono basis. He is expected to resume duty on July 1, 2023.