Meet Aanuoluwa Dorcas Omilani, a dynamic pharmacist making impactful strides at the intersection of pharmacy practice and health technology in Africa. With a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Ibadan and an MSc in Health Informatics, Aanuoluwa exemplifies the new wave of healthcare professionals leveraging digital health innovations to transform patient care.
Her rich professional experience spans both hospital and community pharmacy settings, where she has consistently delivered patient-centred pharmaceutical care and honed her expertise in medication management. Currently working in health administration, Aanuoluwa utilizes Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to ensure accurate and accessible patient and medication information, supporting healthcare professionals in making timely, informed clinical decisions while streamlining workflow processes.
Beyond her clinical and administrative contributions, Aanuoluwa is also passionate about health research. Her recent qualitative study on the readiness of pharmacists for electronic prescription systems in Nigeria adds critical insights to digital health implementation within pharmacy practice. She is an alumna of the Digital Health Skills for Africa training program, where she gained practical skills in project management and deploying digital tools in healthcare systems.
Driven by her commitment to improving pharmaceutical services and health systems across Africa, Aanuoluwa Dorcas Omilani continues to champion innovative approaches that enhance healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
In this exclusive interview, she shares her journey, insights, and aspirations as she forges a path at the intersection of pharmacy and digital health.
- Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background in healthcare or digital health.
Hi, my name is Aanuoluwa Dorcas OMILANI, I am a pharmacist with experience that spans through hospital pharmacy and community pharmacy settings to provide patient care. I am also engaged in
health informatics research, currently working in Administration and using electronic health records to ensure patient health and medication information are up to date for ease of access and decision
by health professionals, including doctors, pharmacists, nurses to enhance the quality of care for patients. - What are your perspectives on the state of Digital Health in your country?
We are on track, although we are far behind but we are making progress to enhance digital health in the country. However, it requires more effort, more interest and more professionals, particularly the health care providers to have interest in digital health and its applications in the healthcare system in Nigeria. - What motivated you to apply for the Digital Health Skills for Africa (formerly VC Health Tech Hub) Digital Health training Cohort 1.0?
I was part of the first cohort and what motivated me to be part of the program is the opportunity to learn about health technology to be exposed to what health technology is and interact with professionals in this field. As a pharmacist, the pharmacy curriculum while I was in school did not provide the opportunity to learn about digital health especially in pharmacy services. It was not in our curriculum. However, the COVID-19 pandemic promoted more awareness about digital health , it made it popular, exposing us to realise the value of digital health and the relevance of technology in health services. Also practicing made me identify some loopholes in the system and possible ways technology can better improve pharmacy services and healthcare provision at large. Hence, this mentorship program provided an opportunity for me far beyond the classroom experience to gain knowledge on how to apply technology in health services and also in what roles and capacity I can achieve this. - How has the cohort-based approach (networking, mentorship, and peer learning) shaped your learning experience?
The mentorship program was exciting, the approach was interesting and made it easy to learn. It was far beyond my expectation due to the fact that there was proper mentorship, there was peer to peer learning and also the facilitators of the program were very engaging. It was a form of introduction to technology and the skills required. The program was in depth and wide, even if you are a beginner without prior knowledge, you’ll be exposed to several roles you can fill up in digital health space and learn skill sets such as data analysis, project management, and cybersecurity that are applicable to health provision. So it was an exciting experience for me. - Can you share your take on Digital Health capacity building in Africa?
We need more people that have a vision about digital health in Africa, to facilitate collaboration and partnership for better implementation and sustainability of digital health services that are currently available. And to also provide better access to resources and policies that can facilitate digital health capacity building in Africa. - Can you share a specific skill or knowledge area you’ve gained from the training that you’ve already started applying in your work?
One of the experiences I gained and the knowledge acquired during this program is the ability to think and also be able to work with peers. The peculiar one that stood out for me was during the peer to peer learning and capstone projects. I learnt about product management and designing. My team developed an online feedback system for community pharmacies to interact with patients, get feedback on their operating system. In fact my team had the best projects during the cohort. Such an exciting one. In addition, it was easy for me to learn, collaborate and integrate with other professionals that have interest in digital health and work together. - How do you see digital health shaping your career trajectory, and what are your next steps after completing the training?
One of the ways I foresee digital health impacting my career trajectory is to fully understand the roles I can take up in the use of technology in health services especially in pharmaceutical care and services. I see myself in project management that relates to health delivery, medication access and quality control. After the training I am volunteering and gaining knowledge in this capacity. Volunteer and fill up roles that can build my expertise in project management in healthcare in the use of digital tools to better health access and promote health services. - If you could implement one digital health solution in your community or workplace today, what would it be and why?
That would be the electronic prescription system. This is because the impact of medication mismanagement and misuse in Nigeria is alarming and I believe the proper implementation of electronic prescription system and ensuring its sustainability will help to promote the right medication use by enhancing proper medication monitoring, documentation of medication history for patients, It will be easy for doctors, pharmacists, nurses to review patient medication information and make decisions. I also believe through this system, we can reduce the rate of illegal access to medications especially controlled drugs and prevent counterfeit medicines through proper medication data and monitoring via the electronic prescribing system. - What advice would you give to healthcare professionals and/or students considering a career in digital health?
The advice/recommendation I have for health professionals and young adults considering a career in digital health is to go for it. It is very relevant. The world is moving to the use of technology in every areas of life. It will be a disadvantage if health care providers or an individual interested not to take on the opportunity to learn and use technology effectively in the management of health and patient care. Although it may be challenging or confusing at first, but once they give yourself time, take on mentorship programs, reach out to people that are in the field already, these could provide a form of career guide for them to establish their field in the digital health system and understand the right skills that they need. Just go for it, give yourself time and you’ll be fine - Could you describe the Digital Health Skills for Africa (formerly VC Health Tech Hub) Digital Health training in three words?
Impactful, Useful, exciting. Thank you
