Dr Liza (Elizabeth) Urowayino Onifade(nee Okorodudu) – MBBS, DTM&H, FMCPaed, FRCPCH’s undergraduate medical education was at the prestigious College of Medicine, University of Lagos – student number 732! She bagged the National Award for her undergraduate training and qualified in 1978 with an MBBS.
She developed an interest in Paediatrics during her national youth corps year at the Nigerian Naval Hospital, Apapa, Lagos where she was part of the medical team looking after the newborns and older children of Naval personnel. Her core postgraduate training in paediatrics was at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. In 1986 during the course of her training, she was awarded the John Holt Scholarship to proceed to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, University of Liverpool for a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She bagged a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) at the end of the course. She was awarded the Fellowship of the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College (FMCPaed) in 1992 on completion of her core paediatric training.
Dr Onifade’s areas of special interest in paediatrics include renal medicine, paediatric medical education, infant feeding, and food allergy. She is an International Society of Nephrology (ISN) Fellow. In 2000, she received the ISN fellowship award for paediatric renal training at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne NHS Trust in the United Kingdom. This was followed later in 2004 by an International Society of Peritoneal Dialysis scholarship for dialysis training at the world renowned Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, also in the United Kingdom. Her focus thereafter was to ensure that junior colleagues consolidate their interest in paediatric nephrology.
She was a faculty member of the department of paediatrics of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos for several years. She began her academic career as Lecturer 1 in 1994 and retired as a senior lecturer in 2008. Through these years she was also honorary consultant paediatrician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Dr Onifade has been a trainer of younger colleagues, medical students and paediatric nurses. She is well versed in research and has several publications in peer reviewed journals. She attends national and international conferences in the field of paediatrics and invests in continuous professional development, specifically attending several management and professional courses in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. She has been involved in the organization and execution of several paediatric update courses in Nigeria. She is certified in both Advanced Paediatric Life Support and Newborn Life Support.
She is currently on leave of absence in the United Kingdom where she works as Consultant paediatrician at the Friarage Hospital, South Tees NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (FRCPCH). Her vacations are spent back home in Nigeria where she contributes to the vision of her founding colleagues in Lifeline for the Nigerian child.