Bisola Ojikutu is an American physician, infectious disease specialist, public health leader and health equity researcher. In July 2021, she was appointed as the Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission."Meet the infectious disease specialist behind Boston’s recent public health decisions" Boston Globe. Retrieved 2022-05-25."Bisola Ojikutu Appointed Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission" JSI. Retrieved 2022-05-25. Ojikutu is the fifth Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston and the first Black woman to permanently hold this position. She currently serves on the Cabinet of Mayor Michelle Wu."Boston Public Health Commission appoints new executive director" Boston Herald. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
Background Ojikutu is a native of Chicago, Illinois and a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Harvard School of Public Health."Dr. Bisola Ojikutu to Deliver the 2022 SPH Convocation Address" Boston University School of Public Health. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
After receiving her medical degree, she completed a primary care-internal medicine residency at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and an infectious disease fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham and Women's Hospital Program. She received a master's degree in public health from the Harvard School of Public Health and is an alumna of the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy."Fellows" Celebrating 20 Years of Advancing Health for All. Retrieved 2022-05-26. Ojikutu completed post-doctoral research training in clinical investigation funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Career Ojikutu is a board-certified physician in internal medicine and infectious diseases and a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America."IDSA Honors 182 Distinguished Physicians, Scientists with FIDSA Designation" IDSA. Retrieved 2022-06-01. She currently serves as the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission,"Mayor-elect Michelle Wu names first cabinet appointees" Boston Globe. Retrieved 2022-05-25. as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School,"Coronavirus daily news updates, March 5: What to know today about COVID-19 in the Seattle area, Washington state and the world" Seattle Times. Retrieved 2022-05-25."Mass. public health commissioner says we’re in a ‘much better place’ with COVID" Boston.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25. and as a faculty member within the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Ojikutu practices medicine within the Infectious Disease Division at Massachusetts General Hospital. She is also an Adjunct Faculty Member at the Fenway Institute. As of December 2021, she serves as chair of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's 17-member COVID Advisory Committee."‘Everything is on the Table': Wu Names New COVID Committee Amid Omicron, Winter Surge" NBC Boston. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
Previously, she was an Associate Physician in the Division of Global Health Equity and Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women's Hospital."Bisola Ojikutu: An Infectious Disease Physician Dedicated to Remedying Disparities" Brigham Clinical & Research News. Retrieved 2022-02-25. As a Senior Advisor and Clinical Lead at John Snow Inc, Ojikutu was the Director of a $30 million project funded by USAID that provided program management, strategic planning, and technical assistance to improve HIV care and treatment within 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America."Bisola Ojikutu Appointed Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission" JSI. Retrieved 2022-07-11. As Director of South Africa Programs at Harvard Medical School, Ojikutu lived in Durban and led scale-up of Harvard Medical School's collaborative initiatives to increase HIV research and access to HIV treatment in KwaZulu Natal. Ojikutu also served as Director of the Office of International Programs at Harvard Medical School, the founding director of the Umndeni Family Care Program, an initiative designed to decrease poverty and increase access to HIV testing, care, and treatment in rural South Africa.,"Shelter amid a health care storm" Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 2022-06-01. and the inaugural Director of the Doris Duke Foundation International Research Fellowship.
Her research and writings have been featured in publications including American Journal of Public Health, New England Journal of Medicine,"Women, Inequality, and the Burden of HIV" New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved 2022-05-26. Harvard Health Policy Review,"Shifting Power, Creating Demand and Requiring Accountability: Achieving Vaccine Equity in the US" Harvard Health Policy Review. Retrieved 2022-05-25. and the Journal of Infectious Diseases."Introduction: The Realities of Antiretroviral Therapy Rollout: Overcoming Challenges to Successful Programmatic Implementation" JSTOR. Retrieved 2022-05-26. She is the co-editor of two comprehensive textbooks detailing strategies to address the ongoing HIV epidemic with Black and Latinx communities, HIV in US Communities of Color."HIV/AIDS in U.S. Communities of Color" JAMA Network. Retrieved 2022-07-11. Ojikutu has been quoted or published as an infectious disease and public health expert in various media outlets including the New York Times,"In Covid Vaccine Data, L.G.B.T.Q. People Fear Invisibility" New York Times. Retrieved 2022-05-25. Washington Post,"A covid-19 vaccine can ensure better outcomes for communities of color. Let’s work to earn their trust." Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-07-11. Rolling Stone, BBC, PBS NewsHour, CNN, USA Today,"Experts worry that a COVID-19 vaccine won't help if not enough people are willing to get one" USA Today. Retrieved 2022-07-11. and NPR."Vaccine mandates working well in Boston despite pushback, city health official says" WGBH. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
Selected Awards
Catalyst for Justice Award from the Massachusetts Public Health Association (2022)"Dr. Bisola Ojikutu" MPHA. Retrieved 2022-06-01. Trailblazer Award from the National Society of Black Engineers (2022)"2022 Inspire STEM Gala Honorees" NSBE Boston. Retrieved 2022-06-01. Named one of the 100 Most Influential Bostonians by Boston Magazine (2022)"100 Most Influential Bostonians" Boston Magazine. Retrieved 2022-06-01. Named a STEM Innovator by COLOR Magazine (2022)"Innovator Award Winners" COLOR Magazine. Retrieved 2022-07-11. Community Health Care Hero from Action for Boston Community Development (2017)"Four Dot, Mattapan residents among ‘heroes’ at ABCD dinner" Dorchester Reporter. Retrieved 2022-07-11. Hero in Action award from the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (2014)"AIDS Action Committee to Honor Three Heroes in Fight Against HIV/AIDS" Rainbow Times. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
References