OnDemand - Dupe Ademola-Popoola - The David M. Paton, MD Visiting Professor Lecture in Academic Global Ophthalmology (NON-CME)

Dr. Ademola-Popoola is the Chair (Head) of the Department of Ophthalmology and a Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. She has been a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) since 2001. 

She earned her medical degree from the University of Lagos in 1991 and completed ophthalmology residency training at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital and University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. In 2001, she obtained dual board certifications as a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (FMCOph) and a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) in Ophthalmology. She has since held leadership positions in both institutions. 

Dr. Ademola-Popoola has dedicated her career to capacity building in ophthalmology globally, particularly in pediatric ophthalmology. She established the Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus specialty at UITH in 2007 and served as Chairman of the Nigerian Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus Society (NIPOSS). She was also appointed a professional mentor in pediatric ophthalmology by the Institute of Child Eye Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Key Contributions and Legacy Work 

Dr. Ademola-Popoola has led several pioneering initiatives, including:

            •           Kwara Childhood Sight Protection Law (2013) – The first of its kind in Nigeria.

            •           Establishment of vision screening for children at immunization clinics.

            •           Community vision care services across several regions in Nigeria.

            •           Vision screening for school children by teachers using the TELVIS

                              screening kit (patented).

            •           Development of a Vision Screening and Referral App – DupsyP-TelEye. 

She has been a telemedicine advocate since 2007 and was instrumental in bringing the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital and Hospital-Based Program to Ilorin, Nigeria, in 2011. 

Dr. Ademola-Popoola leads multiple initiatives on retinoblastoma, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), and pediatric ophthalmology training across sub-Saharan Africa. She was a member of the international expert committee that reviewed and published the International Classification of ROP (ICROP-3) in 2021. 

She currently serves as Co-Chair of the ROP-focused Stop Infant Blindness in Africa (SIBA), an initiative of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS) and the International Pediatric Ophthalmology & Strabismus Council (IPOSC). Additionally, she is an International Trustee-at-Large at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). 

Beyond Ophthalmology 

From 2020 to 2023, Dr. Ademola-Popoola served as the Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at the University of Ilorin, overseeing digital transformation for an institution with over 50,000 students and staff. 

She also holds a master’s in divinity and participated in the Advanced Leadership Development Program at the Haggai Institute in Maui, Hawaii (2011).

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