Bolajoko Olusanya

Bolajoko Olusanya grew up with hearing loss and is a scientist, paediatrician and expert in audiological medicine. The author of ground-breaking research on paediatric hearing loss in Nigeria, she also initiated a programme of universal newborn hearing screening there. Her research and advocacy focus on community-oriented management of developmental disabilities. She is the executive director of the Centre for Healthy Start Initiative, a non-governmental organisation and has authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from audiology to global health policy. A graduate in medicine from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria (1982), Olusanya trained as a developmental paediatrician in Nigeria and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). She began her postgraduate training in 1991 at the Institute of Child Health, University College London (UCL) and also trained at the Donald Winnicott Centre, London (1992). Completing her specialist training in paediatrics in Nigeria (1997), she returned to UCL for a PhD in child health and audiological medicine (2003-2007). She is a member of the Hearing Loss Expert Group of the Global Burden of Disease Study and co-chair of the Lancet Commission on Hearing Loss. In 2018 she received the Aram Glorig Award from the International Society of Audiology.

Selected Work

Olusanya, Bolajoko; Eletu, Olaseinde; Odusote, Olatunde; Somefun, Abayomi; Olude, Olufemi (October 2006). "Early detection of infant hearing loss: Current experiences of health professionals in a developing country". Acta Paediatrica. 95 (10): 1300–1302. doi:10.1080/08035250600603016. PMID 16982506. S2CID 25978633.

Olusanya, Bolajoko O.; Afe, Abayomi J.; Onyia, Ngozi O. (August 2009). "Infants with HIV-infected mothers in a universal newborn hearing screening programme in Lagos, Nigeria". Acta Paediatrica. 98 (8): 1288–1293. doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2009.01337.x. PMID 19519758. S2CID 39310671.

Olusanya, Bolajoko O. (July 2012). "Neonatal hearing screening and intervention in resource-limited settings: an overview". Archives of Disease in Childhood. 97 (7): 654–659. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2012-301786. PMID 22611062. S2CID 15564631.

Olusanya, Bolajoko O.; Davis, Adrian C.; Kassebaum, Nicholas J. (February 2019). "Poor data produce poor models: children with developmental disabilities deserve better – Authors' reply". The Lancet Global Health. 7 (2): e189. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30496-0. PMID 30683237.