Professor Olatunji Matthew Kolawole is a leading virologist, environmental health scientist, and global authority in wastewater-based epidemiology. He distinguished himself early, graduating as the best student in Microbiology and the overall best in Biological Sciences at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, where he later became the first Ph.D. holder and the first Professor of Medical Virology.
An internationally recognised Global Exceptional Talent endorsed by the Royal Society (UK), he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, Royal Society for Public Health, Applied Microbiology International, and the Academy of Public Health. He leads the Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health Research Group at the University of Ilorin. His postdoctoral training spans the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Germany, and the University of Fort Hare, South Africa.
Prof. Kolawole’s work sits at the intersection of virology, wastewater surveillance, infectious disease epidemiology, and environmental microbiology. He was the first to report the circulation of Coronavirus OC229E/NL63 in Nigerian children and has contributed more than 260 publications, two patents, 37 novel contributions, and 118 genomic submissions to NCBI that continue to shape disease control strategies in Africa. His pioneering leadership as Nigeria’s National Coordinator for Poliovirus Laboratory Containment (2015–2024) played a critical role in Nigeria’s certification as polio-free.
He is a principal investigator on major national and global projects, including the Wellcome Trust–funded xSTAR project–Nigeria (Imperial College London) and the WHO AFRO–funded largest SARS-CoV-2 serosurvey in Africa. His wastewater research advances pathogen detection, outbreak preparedness, and the development of innovative, eco-friendly microbial bioflocculants for sustainable water treatment.
A Visiting Professor and IAS International Fellow at the University of Warwick, he has supervised 15 PhDs and 48 MSc students and continues to shape the next generation of African scientists. Prof. Kolawole also serves as a consultant virologist to the World Health Organization and Lead Consultant on the Nigeria CDC Environmental Surveillance Project supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
