Co-Chair, Centre for Equity in Global Surgery, University of Global Health Equity

Assistant Professor of Surgery, Department of Surgery, Division of Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Global Health Equity

Dr. Barnabas Tobi Alayande is a general surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), Rwanda, where he also serves as Co-Chair of the Centre for Equity in Global Surgery and Program Director for the MSc in Global Health Delivery (Global Surgery Option). He is part of the clinical faculty within the Department of Surgery, Division of Clinical Medicine, at UGHE/Butaro Level 2 Teaching Hospital.

Dr. Alayande is passionate about equity-based solutions in global surgical care and works to advance surgical access for underserved populations through education, research, innovation, and improvisation tailored to low- and middle-income country contexts, with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. He is the Secretary General of the Pan-African Surgical Healthcare Forum (PASHeF), Co-Chair of the Association for Academic Surgery’s Academic Advancement Committee, past Chair of the Global Affairs Committee, and Co-Director of the Operation Smile-UGHE–Nkafu Policy Institute Global Surgery Advocacy Fellowship and Program.

His academic and professional background spans Medicine and Surgery, Public Health, Global Surgery, Theology, and Business. A specialist in general surgery with interests in trauma care and human factors, Dr. Alayande has conducted pilot randomized controlled trials in thyroid surgery and benign anorectal disease in resource-limited settings.

He trained in Medicine at the University of Ilorin, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Community-Based Education and Service and completed his surgical residency with the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, and had training with the West African College of Surgeons. His early career included service as a National Youth Service Corps Camp Medical Director, Community Health Team Chair, and Medical Officer overseeing 19 local government health facilities serving 4.9 million people, supported building of Oasis Medical Centre- a private practice, and later as a volunteer surgeon with the Faith Alive Foundation, establishing surgical systems for underserved HIV/AIDS patients in North-Central Nigeria.

Dr. Alayande completed a two-year Global Surgery Fellowship with the Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, where he served as Chief Research Fellow. He also completed the Global Surgery Certificate at Oxford University and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Executive Leadership in Global Surgery course. He is a Fogarty Global Health Fellow (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health), Harvard Macy Institute alumnus in Medical Education, holds a Masters in Business Administration, and a Masters of Science in Public Health from the University of Suffolk, UK.

At UGHE, Dr. Alayande has contributed to undergraduate national surgical curriculum development for Rwanda, non-technical skills curriculum design for Nigeria and other variable-resource contexts, trauma care training across West Africa, and the strategic implementation of UGHE’s Centre for Equity in Global Surgery. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Association for Academic Surgery, Harvard-UGHE Paul Farmer Collaborative, Duke Paul Farmer Initiative, and UGHE Dean’s Grant, among others.

His contributions have earned numerous awards and honors, including the Baxiram S. & Kankuben B. Gelot Community Surgeons Travel Award (American College of Surgeons), Oral Presentation Award (COSECSA, 2023), Harvard PGSSC Alumni Award, Trauma Association of Canada Award, Fogarty Global Health Fellowship, Faculty of Rural, Remote and Humanitarian Healthcare Fellowship Award, AAS Global Surgery Research Grant, and several early career and academic prizes. Dr. Alayande’s scholarship and advocacy span surgical ethics and equity, disparities in trauma care access, grassroots advocacy, conference equity, surgical quality and history, COVID-era surgical systems, improvisation in surgery, and the integration of artificial intelligence in surgical care.

He serves as Academic Editor for PLOS Global Public Health, Associate Editor for BMJ Global Health, and on the editorial board of the East and Central Africa Journal of Surgery, as well as a reviewer for multiple journals. He is a Fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria, the International College of Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Faculty of Rural, Remote, and Humanitarian Healthcare, and a member of the Rwanda Surgical Society.

Cohort 1 | 2025