What to know
- Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi is the first Black president in the Canadian Medical Association’s 160-year history, marking a significant milestone for representation in medicine.
- Ogunyemi’s presidency is focused on improving access, accountability, and equity in Canada’s healthcare system, especially for underrepresented communities.
- His research and advocacy highlight how ethnic background can impact health outcomes, and he pushes for more inclusive medical education and leadership.
- Ogunyemi’s leadership inspires a new generation of Black and racialized Canadians to pursue careers and leadership roles in medicine.
When Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi became president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) this May, he marked more than a personal milestone: he became the organization’s first Black leader in its 160-year history, signaling a pivotal moment for representation in Canadian medicine.
In a conversation with Now Toronto, the Nigerian-born, Newfoundland-based leader shared how his personal and professional experiences are shaping an ambitious vision for Canadian healthcare.
Dr. Bolu Ogunyemi’s experience as a professor, dermatologist, researcher, and advocate has led him to focus on reframing health and funding, giving underrepresented communities a voice, and researching how ethnic backgrounds can affect health differently.
About Ogunyemi’s work
Ogunyemi often focuses on research driven by the needs of underrepresented communities or on reflecting the voices needed in leadership.
In a recent paper, Ogunyemi researched how dermatology leadership in Canada has historically excluded women and minority groups. The paper examines how conditions appear across different skin colours and recognizes all skin types.
“People [are] being under-treated because dermatologists and other doctors were not used to seeing these diseases in people with darker skin,” Ogunyemi told Now Toronto.
From research to advocacy and his CMA presidency, Ogunyemi shared that his passion for medicine stems from a commitment to health equity and connecting with people from “all walks of life.”
‘If you can’t see it, you can’t be it’: Putting forward representation as the first Black CMA president
Ogunyemi has always strived to be in a position of leadership, and is honoured to bring his lens as a person of colour from his day-to-day life to his other professional experiences in health.
“It certainly doesn’t define my work, but it is a lens in terms of being Black, being an immigrant… those are perspectives that I can bring to my work at increasingly high tables,” he explained.
“When you’re meeting with policymakers, it’s important that the lens I have as someone who’s Black or racialized and an immigrant, among other lenses, can be reflected in the policy, because we want to make sure that federal policy is inclusive of people of all backgrounds, so everyone can benefit,” Ogunyemi added.
In addition to bringing a new lens to the table, Ogunyemi says becoming the first Black CMA president provides representation in the field and inspires other Black and racialized people to take on leadership positions in healthcare.
“I have a lot of individuals come up to me and say they can really consider a career in medicine and a career in medical leadership because they see me in my role,” Ogunyemi shared.
“So being in this role lets them know that they can do it as well. So that’s important in terms of the motivation, and I would say more broadly in terms of the shaping policy piece is also important,” he added.
Ogunyemi is a firm believer in the quote, “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it,” so being a source of representation and bringing another lens to decision-making tables is an honour to him.
Health, funding, access: Changes Ogunyemi wishes to bring during his presidency
Ogunyemi says Canada cannot expect a strong workforce without healthy Canadians, so he aims to reframe the position of health.
“It’s important to think of health not just as a cost or a line item, but as a strength to make sure we have a very strong economy,” he explained.
Despite the publicly funded health system, Ogunyemi says there needs to be more accountability for how many people lack a family doctor, what the emergency room wait times are (and whether there are enough staff), and how many rural emergency rooms are closing…
“Those are all examples of metrics that we need to be tracking to make sure that we have better access to health in this country,” Ogunyemi said.
