Richard A. Adegbola

For four decades, Professor Adegbola’s expertise as a microbiologist and public health advocate has protected vulnerable communities from preventable diseases. Currently, he serves as a research professor at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research and a consultant for Immunization & Global Health, RAMBICON. Professor Adegbola’s current focus is boosting vaccine implementation and health care systems’ capacity to decrease the number of pneumonia-related deaths among children, the leading cause of death in Nigerian children under the age of five, despite the availability of effective vaccines.

Professor Adegbola’s work at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Unit in The Gambia contributed to the widespread use of the Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) conjugate vaccine. When given routinely, this vaccine has resulted in a 90 percent decrease in severe Hib infections. Following his 20-year career with MRC, Professor Adegbola joined the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he was a senior program officer for pneumonia clinical studies. He then served as global director, of scientific affairs and public health at GlaxoSmithKline.