How Kikelomo Adetula is Reimagining Healthcare Communication in US

By Salami Adeyinka

Growing up in Lagos, Kikelomo ‘Kike’ Adetula never imagined that one day she’d lead healthcare outreach programmes in the United States, programmes designed to help underserved communities understand their health, access care confidently, and feel seen in the system. Today, from her base in Connecticut, US, she is doing just that.

As a project manager at a major US community health centre, she develops and leads campaigns that blend marketing insight with health equity. She is focused on ensuring patients don’t just receive messages but connect with them, act on them, and ultimately trust the system behind them.

“Health communication should meet people where they are in their language, culture, and day-to-day,” she says. “That’s how we move from outreach to impact.”

Rooted in Nigeria, Built for Global Impact

Adetula began her journey at Redeemer’s University, where she studied banking and finance. After years of shaping high-growth marketing campaigns across Africa, including leadership roles at Jumia and Travelstart, she relocated to the US to pursue a new path in healthcare and public interest strategy.

While earning her MBA from Quinnipiac University, she quickly became known for her creative approach to community engagement, working closely with university programs and health organisations. However, it was during the pandemic and its aftermath that her pivot became mission-driven.

“Digital marketing taught me how to influence behavior,” she reflects. “But healthcare taught me why behavior change matters.”

A track record of creative strategy

Long before healthcare became her focus, Adetula was already pushing boundaries in marketing. At Jumia, she helped drive e-commerce adoption across Nigeria, leading campaigns that doubled traffic in key categories. At Travelstart, she helped revive post-COVID revenue through airline partnerships and digital repositioning.

Earlier in her career, she helped lead digital campaigns in Nigeria’s fashion industry, an experience that shaped her instinct for emotional storytelling and digital-first engagement, long before healthcare became her focus.

Each of these experiences, she says, was a lesson in listening. “Whether you are selling flights or promoting vaccines, success comes down to how well you understand your audience. Real engagement begins with empathy.”

Building health equity, one message at a time

Now in the US healthcare space, Adetula is focused on bridging communication gaps that often keep minority communities from accessing care.

At the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, she’s led campaigns to promote new services, improve health literacy, and empower patients to make proactive choices. Her work often centers around cultural nuance, digital accessibility, and building trust, particularly in immigrant communities that have historically faced systemic barriers to care.

In her current role, she leads culturally competent, patient-centered engagement strategies across the organisation’s multi-state healthcare network, redefining how diverse and underserved communities are reached, informed, and empowered nationwide.

She has also been featured as a guest speaker at academic roundtables and panels, where her practical insights on patient communication and cultural relevance have drawn.

Her thought leadership continues to expand. She has published insights on personalised marketing, digital trust, and cybersecurity in e-commerce and healthcare. She continues to advise on strategies that blend public health priorities with modern outreach tools.

Adetula hopes to expand her work nationally, building scalable patient engagement frameworks that support public health goals across underserved areas in the US.

She envisions a future where technology, marketing, and culture collaborate, not collide.

“I see my work as a bridge,” she says. “Between data and understanding, between systems and people. And I want to keep building that bridge, especially for those who’ve been left out of the conversation for too long.”

A Nigerian Flag in a Global Arena

As Nigeria marks another year of independence, stories like Adetula reminds us of the quiet revolutions led by diaspora professionals, who use their talent to solve problems, change lives, and shape the future far beyond our borders.

Her journey from Lagos classrooms to US health centres proves that national identity and global impact don’t have to be separate paths—they can walk together and win together.