Biodata: Professor Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale
Professor Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale, a native of Erin Oke, in Osun State, was born in Ibadan. He attended Omolewa Nursery and Primary School, Oritamefa, for his primary school education. Between 1979 and 1984, he was at various times, a student at Government College, Ibadan, and Loyola College, Ibadan. After finishing Lower Six, in Government College, in June 1985, he gained admission to the University of Ibadan as an undergraduate student in the Department of English. He graduated from the University of Ibadan, with a degree in English, in I989. He won the Departmental Prize and the first Heinemann Prize for Literature as the best graduating student of his set. In 1991, he was employed as an Assistant Editor at Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria Limited, where he rose to the rank of Editor in 1994. He joined the staff of the University of Ibadan as an Assistant Lecturer in 1995 and became the first Nigerian Professor of Literature and Medicine in 2010.
Twice, in 1999 and 2010, Professor Omobowale was a recipient of the University of Ibadan’s Senate Research Grant. In 2002, he was awarded the Fogarty Fellowship, which facilitated his training as a Bioethicist at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Between 2006 and 2008, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mclaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, which was affiliated to the University of Toronto, Canada. He has almost 60 sole authored articles in several books and reputable journals. He has also published a number of joint articles with his students and professional colleagues.
Professor Omobowale has served as the External Examiner to the following Nigerian tertiary institutions, namely: the Obafemi Awolowo University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Ekiti State University, University of Ilorin, Redeemer’s University, Bowen University, Osun State University, University of Lagos, Ekiti State University, Covenant University, Ota, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Edo University Iyamho and the University of Benin. In addition to teaching, research and community service, Professor Omobowale has successfully supervised more than 30 doctoral theses, 120 masters’ projects and over 300 undergraduate projects. He is a member of the Association of Nigerian authors, the English Studies Association of Nigeria, the American Studies Association as the West African Bioethics Programme.
Professor Emmanuel Babatunde Omobowale, the immediate past Director of the Distant Learning Centre of the University of Ibadan, is also the Senior Pastor at All Saints’ Evangelical Church, Ibadan. He is married to Mrs Eyitayo Damilola Omobowale, and the marriage is blessed with children.
