Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, O.O.N.(born 1957

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

) is a

hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

oncologist Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with the study, treatment, diagnosis and prevention of cancer. A medical professional who practices oncology is an ''oncologist''. The name's etymological origin is the Greek word ὄγκος (''ó ...

, Associate Dean for Global Health and Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor in

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and

Human Genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population gene ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. She also serves as director of the University of Chicago Hospital's Cancer Risk Clinic.

Life

Olufunmilayo Olopade was born in Nigeria in 1957 and was the fifth of six children born to an Anglican musician. She attended St Anne's School Ibadan for her secondary school education. Olopade first expressed interest in becoming a doctor at a young age because the Nigerian villages were scarce for doctors and medical resources, which were both in high demand. She graduated from

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 19 ...

, Nigeria, with a

MBBS Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United Kin ...

, in 1980. She works closely with

the Breast Cancer Research Foundation The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) is an independent, not-for-profit organization which has raised $569.4 million to support clinical and translational research on breast cancer at medical institutions in the United States and abroad. BC ...

and has performed extensive clinical work surrounding the role of the ''

BRCA1 Breast cancer type 1 susceptibility protein is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''BRCA1'' () gene. Orthologs are common in other vertebrate species, whereas invertebrate genomes may encode a more distantly related gene. ''BRCA1'' is a ...

'' and ''

BRCA2 ''BRCA2'' and BRCA2 () are a human gene and its protein product, respectively. The official symbol (BRCA2, italic for the gene, nonitalic for the protein) and the official name (originally breast cancer 2; currently BRCA2, DNA repair associated) ...

'' genes in the incidence of breast cancer in women of African descent. She is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the American College of Physicians, the Nigerian Medical Association, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, and the

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, Eng ...

Early career

Olufunmilayo started her career in 1980 as a medical officer in the

Nigerian Navy The Nigerian Navy (NN) is a branch of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is among the largest navies on the African continent, consisting of several thousand personnel, including those of the Coast Guard. History The Nigerian Navy owes its origin t ...

Hospital, after which she moved to the US where she worked at

Cook County Hospital The John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County (formerly Cook County Hospital) is a public hospital in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is part of the Cook County Health and Hospital System, along with Provident Hospital of Cook County and ...

, Chicago between 1983 and 1987. In 1991, Olufunmilayo joined the University of Chicago as assistant professor in hematology and oncology and presently serves as Dean of Global Health and Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics at the University of Chicago.

Awards

* 1975: Nigerian Federal Government Merit Award * 1978: Nigerian Medical Association Award for Excellence in Pediatrics * 1980: Nigerian Medical Association Award for Excellence in Medicine * 1990: Ellen Ruth Lebow Fellowship * 1991: American Society for Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award * 1992: James S. McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award * 2000:Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist Award * 2003: Phenomenal Woman Award for work within the African-American Community * 2005: Access Community Network's Heroes in Healthcare Award * 2005

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

*2015:

Four Freedoms Award The Four Freedoms Award is an annual award presented to "those men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which United States, US President of the United States, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaime ...

* 2017:

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pennsy ...

Mendel Medal *On Saturday, May 18, 2019, The Lincoln Academy of Illinois granted Olopade the Order of Lincoln award, the highest honor bestowed by the

State of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. * 2021: Member of the U. S.

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...

. Olufunmilayo Olopade was one out of the three African-Americans to receive the $500,000 award. This award was appointed by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This “no strings attached” stipend grant was given as support for up to five years and was referred to as the “

genius grant The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to ...

.” This grant allowed Olopade to continue her research on her groundbreaking discoveries on diseases and health concerns.

Family

She married Christopher Sola Olopade, also a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

at the University of Chicago, in 1983; they have two daughters, including

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

Dayo Olopade, and one son.

Research

Most of her research was on the susceptibility to cancer, which would then be used to adopt a more effective way of treating

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...

among the African and African-American individuals and populations. In 1987 at the University of Chicago, she found a

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a b ...

that helped suppress tumor growth. In 1992, Olopade helped found the University of Chicago's Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics. Here she found that African-American women often developed breast cancer at younger ages than white women. In 2003, she began a new study looking at breast cancer and genetics from African women from Nigeria to

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

and also

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

women in Chicago. By 2005 she found that 80% of tumors in African women did not need

estrogen Estrogen or oestrogen is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three major endogenous estrogens that have estrogenic hormonal ac ...

to grow compared to 20% of tumors in Caucasian the women. She also found that this was due to a different pattern of gene expression between the African women and the Caucasian women.

References

External links

"Olufunmilayo Olopade, MD, Physician Profile"
''UChicago Medicine''
"The SciCom Interview: Olufunmilayo Olopade"
''Tavis Smiley'', July 10, 2009

''Port of Harlem'', Feb - Apr 2008

ScienceDaily'', Mar. 20, 2008 *"Olopade, Olufunmilayo ." Newsmakers 2006 Cumulation . . Retrieved February 27, 2020 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/culture-magazines/olopade-olufunmilayo. *https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9936-1599 *https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/olufunmilayo-funmi-olopade-b8bb1513 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olopade, Olufunmilayo Nigerian scientists 1957 births Nigerian oncologists University of Ibadan alumni University of Chicago faculty MacArthur Fellows Living people Nigerian women medical doctors Nigerian emigrants to the United States American people of Yoruba descent African-American scientists American scientists Yoruba women scientists Yoruba women physicians American women scientists Cancer researchers Nigerian women biologists American women physicians Nigerian women academics Yoruba women academics Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award St Anne's School, Ibadan alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the National Academy of Medicine Cancer in Nigeria