Tollulah "Tolu" Oni was born in Lagos, Nigeria ^[1] in 1980.

Tolullah (Tolu) Oni was born in Lagos, Nigeria. ^[1] At an early age, she had a desire to study medicine thus she developed a passion for public health. She eventually earned her Bachelor's degree in International Health at the University College London. ^[1] [4] This flickered an interest in diseases of global importance and the factors that influence health policy and outcomes. The understanding that many health conditions are rooted in social determinants inspired her to transition from a clinical to an academic career in public health and epidemiology.

Tolu completed her medical training at University of College London Cedical School in 2004; and her Public Health Medical Specialty training (Fellow of the College of Public Health Medicine) in South Africa.

^[1] In 2012, she received her Doctoral research degree from the Imperial College London.

Her research investigates urbanization and health and population health transition; and aims to contribute significantly to existing knowledge on the changing patterns of disease and implications for health and well-being of the population in the context of urbanization.

Her work specifically explores the interaction between chronic infectious and non-infectious diseases, and the impact of the physical and socioeconomic environment on the health profile of populations living in unplanned urban settings.

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Tolu has won many awards with the election to the South African Young Academy of Science in 2013 being one.

She currently serves as the co-chair of the Executive Committee to the South African Young Academy of Science.

She was also selected to the 2014 Young Physicians Leadership Programme by the Inter-Academy Medical Panel and the World Academy of Science.

^[1] Furthermore, in a 2015 World Economic Forum Young Scientist, she was selected as a future global leader to participate in the Future Leaders Program of the Annual Meeting of the Science and Technology in Society Forum, in Japan 2015.

She also received the Carnegie “Next Generation of African Academics” and the 2015 Claude Leon Merit research awards.

Tolu is currently working on establishing the Research Initiative for Cities Health and Equity (RICHE), an interdisciplinary research programme for urban health research in Africa.

^[1] The RICHE program will be a base to address urban health inequity and to identify creative strategies to address complex population health and broader societal challenges through a coordinated and intersectoral partnership between academia, civil society and government.

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