Folake Olayinka is a physician and global health leader with extensive experience in immunization, maternal and child health, malaria, HIV, and health systems strengthening. Since October 2020, she has served as the Global Immunization Lead and STAR Fellow at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). She also played a key role as Technical and Strategy Lead for the COVID-19 Vaccine Access and Delivery Initiative in Washington, D.C.
Prior to her current role, Olayinka was Project Director of the MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (MRITE) project at JSI in Arlington, Virginia, where she worked from 2015 to 2020. She also served as Senior Immunization Advisor and a senior leader in USAID’s Flagship Maternal Child Survival Program. Earlier in her career, she was Program Director for the UKAID-funded Support to National Malaria Program (SuNMAP) in Nigeria, led by Malaria Consortium, providing comprehensive technical assistance for malaria control.
Olayinka is a member of the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) and serves on its working group on COVID-19 vaccines. She previously served on the WHO Immunization Practice Advisory Committee and is currently part of the African Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG). She also advises the African Leadership Initiative for Vaccinology Expertise at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Her contributions span key global health areas including routine immunization, polio eradication, maternal and child health, HIV, and malaria. She is an Aspen New Voices Fellow and a Fellow of the WomenLift Health Leadership Program at Stanford University.
