Adetokunbo Oluwole Lucas (was born in 1931 and died on 25 December 2020) was a Nigerian doctor who was considered a global leader in

tropical disease Tropical diseases are Infectious disease, diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, whic ...

s. Born in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, he was educated in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and commenced his professional career in Nigeria. Lucas received the

Prince Mahidol Award The Prince Mahidol Award ( th, รางวัลสมเด็จเจ้าฟ้ามหิดล) is an annual award for outstanding achievements in medicine and public health worldwide. The award is given by the Prince Mahidol Award Found ...

in 1999 for his support of strategic research on the tropical diseases. He served for ten years as the Director of Special Programmes for Research and Training in

Tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

Diseases based at the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

in Geneva, Switzerland. He was Adjunct Professor of International Health Department of Global Health and Population of the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

. Lucas worked largely during his life time in his home

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...

of Nigeria and traveled frequently to the United Kingdom and to the

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Early life and education

Lucas was born and raised in

Lagos Island Lagos Island (''Ìsàlẹ̀ Èkó'') is the principal and central local government area (LGA) in Lagos, it was the capital of Lagos State until 1957. It is part of the Lagos Division. As of the preliminary 2006 Nigerian census, the LGA had a pop ...

. His father was the Nigerian educator,

Olumide Lucas Jonathan Olumide Lucas (born 1897) was a Nigerian clergyman, educator and historian who is known for his work on the history of Yoruba traditional religion. As an author, he was among a group of West African historians who proposed a Hamitic origi ...

. He attended St. Paul School and King's College Lagos for his primary and secondary education. He studied medicine at Durham University, England, graduating with honours in 1956, followed by postgraduate training in internal medicine and public health. He was a Professor of internal medicine and public health in

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

, Nigeria, from 1960 to 1976, and external examiner at the Department of Preventive Medicine, Makerere Medical School, Kampala, Uganda, after which he directed the Tropical Diseases Research Program of the

for ten years, from 1976 to 1986. He later became involved in maternal and child health programs and worked to prevent maternal morbidity and mortality. He was named Professor of International Health at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1990, which position is held in the

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

, where he remained an adjunct professor in population health in the Department of Global Health and Population. He continued to serve on numerous expert and advisory committees for national and international organisations involved to international health issues. Such institutions include the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the

Carter Center The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. He and his wife Rosalynn Carter partnered with Emory University just after his defeat in the 1980 United States presidenti ...

, and the

Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation focused on health research based in London, in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1936 with legacies from the pharmaceutical magnate Henry Wellcome (founder of one of the predecessors of Glaxo ...

Scientific Group on Tropical Medicine. He also chaired the Global Forum for Health Research.

Publications

Lucas was the author of numerous books and articles in refereed public health journals * ''A Short Textbook of Preventive Medicine for the Tropics'' (University Medicine Texts) (1984) * Short Textbook of Public Health Medicine for the Tropics, 4Ed (2002) * ''It Was the Best of Times: From Local to Global Health'' (2010, Autobiography published in Africa) * The Man: Adetokunbo Lucas (2011 Biography)

Honors

Lucas was a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was one of the first foreign associates of the Institute of Medicine. He has received honorary degrees from Emory University, Tulane University, and University of Ibadan; and Harvard University has bestowed academic honours upon him. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and one of the first foreign associates of the IOM (

Institute of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, E ...

). He was a recipient of the

(1999), based in Thailand (jointly with

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

graduate Dr.

R. Palmer Beasley Robert Palmer Beasley (April 29, 1936 – August 25, 2012) was a physician, public health educator and epidemiologist whose work on hepatitis B involved extensive investigations in Taiwan. That work established that hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a p ...

of the United States and Dr. Tore Godal of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

), the Centenary Medal for Life-Time Achievements in Tropical Medicine (2007) and of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) (5 March 2013).

Personal life

Lucas was married and had four children. He died on 25 December 2020, aged 89, at his home in

Ibadan, Nigeria Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total population ...

References

External links

Official website of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation

Harvard School of Public Health Faculty Website for Adetokunbo Oluwole Lucas, MD

URL for official HSPH image of Dr. Lucas

AMREF Biography for Dr. Lucas

Spoke page lists some of Dr. Lucas's roles for US-based NGOs and their committees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Adetokunbo 1931 births 2020 deaths Harvard School of Public Health faculty King's College, Lagos alumni Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Nigerian officials of the United Nations Nigerian public health doctors Physicians from Lagos Academic staff of the University of Ibadan World Health Organization officials Yoruba academics Yoruba physicians Members of the National Academy of Medicine