Nigerian Pharmacist speaks on AI, Governance, Future of Healthcare

Ugo Aliogo

As artificial intelligence increasingly finds its way into healthcare systems around the world, policymakers and practitioners are grappling with a fundamental question: how can health systems move beyond investing in AI tools to achieving meaningful clinical outcomes?

For Omodunni Adejoke Oloko, a Nigerian-trained pharmacist whose career began in Lagos, the answer lies less in technology itself and more in governance, data infrastructure and organisational readiness.

Now based in the United States, Oloko is contributing research at the intersection of health policy and artificial intelligence, drawing on nearly a decade of experience spanning public health, pharmaceutical access and health systems management across Africa and North America.

In an interview, she reflects on her journey from the University of Lagos to Johns Hopkins University, the lessons she learned working on large-scale health programmes in Nigeria, and why she believes governance remains the missing link in many AI-driven healthcare initiatives.

Tell us about your professional journey and how it began.

I graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Lagos in 2016. My first major role was with the Logistics Management Coordinating Unit supporting the Global Fund programme for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in Nigeria.
Although my title was Junior Data Analyst, the work exposed me to some of the biggest operational challenges in public health. One of the recurring issues was that health programmes often had the data they needed, but lacked the systems to connect and interpret that information in ways that could support timely decision-making.
That experience shaped how I think about health systems today.

What specific problem were you addressing at the time?

The programme faced challenges common in many health systems. Medicines were available in some locations while shortages occurred elsewhere. Managers often reacted to stockouts after they happened rather than preventing them.

I worked on developing monitoring dashboards using Power BI, Tableau and SQL to improve visibility across the supply chain. The goal was to provide programme managers with real-time insights into inventory and distribution patterns.

The result was an improvement in patient service levels and more efficient distribution of essential medicines.

How did that experience influence your current work?

It taught me an important lesson: the challenge is rarely the absence of solutions. More often, it is the absence of governance structures, reliable data systems and operational processes that enable organisations to use existing solutions effectively.

That lesson continues to guide my work, particularly in healthcare technology.

Your expertise attracted international recognition quite early. How did that happen?

While I was still working in Nigeria, I received an invitation from the editorial board of The Lancet Global Health to review a manuscript.

That was a significant moment because peer-review invitations typically come from journals that have independently assessed your expertise in a particular field.
Over the following years, I also reviewed for journals including The Lancet Public Health, The Lancet Digital Health, the International Journal of Medical Informatics and Health Policy.
For me, it was validation that meaningful contributions to global health research can come from professionals working in emerging markets.

After public health, you moved into the pharmaceutical industry. What was that transition like?

I joined Sanofi Nigeria, where I worked in diabetes and specialty care.
Nigeria faces a growing diabetes burden, and one of the major challenges is ensuring patients have access to effective therapies. Beyond the clinical aspects, there are issues around affordability, healthcare infrastructure and specialist availability.

The role deepened my understanding of how market access, physician engagement, and health policy intersect to drive patient outcomes.

What lessons from pharmaceutical access work have stayed with you?

One key lesson is that improving health outcomes requires understanding the realities of healthcare delivery.
Innovation alone is not enough. Patients must be able to access therapies, healthcare providers must be willing and able to prescribe them, and systems must support continuity of care.

Those experiences later informed my research interests in health policy and implementation.

Why did you decide to pursue graduate studies in the United States?

I wanted to deepen my understanding of health leadership, management and innovation
At Johns Hopkins University, I completed both a Master of Public Health in Health Leadership and Management and an MBA in Analytics, Leadership and Innovation.
The combination allowed me to explore healthcare challenges from both policy and organisational perspectives.

Your recent work focuses on artificial intelligence in healthcare. What prompted that interest?

Healthcare organisations across the world are investing heavily in AI technologies. However, many struggle to translate those investments into measurable improvements in patient care.
I became interested in understanding why that gap exists.
My research suggests that successful AI adoption depends not only on technology but also on governance structures, clinical workflows, leadership readiness, change management and data architecture.

Tell us about the framework you have developed.
The framework focuses on five areas: data readiness, governance ownership, clinical workflow integration, clinical validation infrastructure and change management maturity.

The idea is to help healthcare organisations evaluate whether they are truly prepared to adopt AI in ways that are safe, effective and sustainable.
It draws on existing federal guidance in the United States and translates those principles into practical tools that health system leaders can use.

You also have research focused on pharmaceutical access in Africa. What does that work examine?

The study explores pharmaceutical market access strategies and how they influence prescription uptake for oral antidiabetic medicines in sub-Saharan Africa.

It builds on implementation experiences from Nigeria and seeks to contribute evidence that can help improve access to treatment across the region.

Looking back, how do you connect your work in Lagos with your current focus on AI policy?

To me, they are part of the same story.
Whether you are managing medicine distribution in Nigeria or evaluating AI readiness in an American hospital, the core challenge is similar: how do organisations build systems that allow them to act effectively on available information?
Technology matters, but governance matters just as much.
The work I did in Lagos helped me understand that reality early in my career. Everything I have done since then has been an effort to solve that problem at a larger scale.

What message would you give young Nigerian healthcare professionals?

Do not underestimate the value of building expertise where you are.
Some of the most important lessons in my career came from working on practical challenges in Nigeria’s health system. Those experiences have remained relevant everywhere else I have worked.

Global impact does not begin when you leave home. Often, it begins with the work you do while you are still there.