The Nigerian professor will take over from Professor Graham Hart, who has served as inaugural Dean since August 2011.
“We are delighted to announce that Ibrahim Abubakar, a world-leading scholar in the field of infectious disease epidemiology, will take up the post of Dean of the UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences from 1 August 2021.
“He successfully leading the faculty to its position today as a leading global institution for education and research in public health and clinical medicine, consistently ranked in the world’s top ten. Professor Hart will continue to co-direct UCL Health of the Public.
“Professor Abubakar joined UCL in 2012, jointly appointed between the MRC Clinical Trials Unit and the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care as Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology. In 2016, he was appointed Director of the Institute for Global Health and also served as Vice-Dean International and External Engagement for the faculty. Prior to his appointment at UCL, he led Public Health England’s successful tuberculosis control strategy. He is an NIHR (National Institute for Health Research) Senior Investigator and was elected to the Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2020 in recognition of his research in infectious disease epidemiology and migration and health.