Fatima Kyari Wins Aig-Imoukhuede Visiting Fellowship at Oxford

By Sanni Marvelous 

Professor Fatima Kyari, Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), has been selected as the 2026 Aig-Imoukhuede Visiting Fellow at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation announced Kyari’s selection in a statement on Monday, saying the fellowship would provide her with an opportunity to deepen her understanding of critical policy challenges and develop practical solutions for strengthening Nigeria’s public institutions.

The six-month fellowship will begin in September 2026 and will bring Kyari into engagement with leading scholars and practitioners at Oxford.

The foundation said Kyari would focus her fellowship research on medical education, health workforce development and professional regulation, particularly as Nigeria seeks to expand its healthcare workforce while addressing persistent workforce and migration challenges.

According to the foundation, her research will examine how Nigeria can use medical education as a strategic public-sector reform to improve quality, build health workforce capacity and respond to changes in the healthcare labour market.

It said the research would produce practical policy recommendations on governance, regulatory stewardship and the implementation of large-scale reforms in health and medical education.

The foundation described Kyari as a clinician, academic and public-sector leader whose career spans healthcare delivery, medical research, health policy, medical education, professional regulation and institutional reform.

Commenting on the selection, Ofovwe Aig-Imoukhuede, Executive Vice Chair of the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, said Kyari exemplified the type of leadership the organisation seeks to promote in Nigeria’s public sector.

“Professor Fatima Kyari represents the kind of public sector leadership we want to see more of in Nigeria: leaders who see a problem, ask difficult questions and work to build institutions that can deliver better outcomes,” Aig-Imoukhuede said.

She said Kyari’s position at the MDCN placed her at the centre of important discussions about the future of Nigeria’s healthcare workforce.

“We are pleased to support her Fellowship at Oxford and look forward to the practical ideas that will emerge from her work,” she added.

Kyari said the fellowship would allow her to move beyond the day-to-day demands of professional regulation and examine Nigeria’s medical education and health workforce systems from a broader perspective.

“I am honoured to be selected as the 2026 Aig-Imoukhuede Visiting Fellow,” Kyari said.

“The Fellowship gives me the opportunity to step back from the day-to-day demands of regulation and take a broader look at how Nigeria can build the medical education and health workforce systems needed for the future.”

She said she looked forward to learning from Oxford’s scholarship and experience and bringing those insights back to Nigeria as practical ideas to strengthen health workforce governance, medical education and public-sector reform.

The Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation said the fellowship, delivered in partnership with the Blavatnik School of Government, supports exceptional public-sector leaders to deepen their policy knowledge and translate their experience into institutional reforms. The foundation says fellows use Oxford’s academic resources and global networks to explore complex policy challenges and develop solutions that can strengthen public-sector performance.

Kyari will join other distinguished Aig-Imoukhuede fellows, including Professor Attahiru Jega, Justice Georgina Wood, Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru and Dr Funke Adepoju.