The Society mourns the loss of longtime member and Honorary International Fellow Adetokunbo O. Lucas, MD, a pioneering director of the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, among other accomplishments. Dr. Lucas passed away December 25, 2020, at age 89.
"Ade Lucas was a mentor, colleague, friend and occasional co-conspirator," said President Julie Jacobson, MD, DTM&H. "I will always remember his continuously hungry mind exploring new technologies and talents throughout his lifetime. Just when you thought he wasn’t paying attention he would add a comment, bringing conversations and debates around to interesting forgotten facts or adages to make you think deeper than the current crisis to the bigger issue at hand. I will miss his council and his wit."
His notable career also included Professor of International Health at Harvard University; the first Nigerian Head of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; and the first chair of the Strengthening Human Resources in Developing Countries Program at Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Dr. Lucas had been a member of ASTMH since 1965. In 1987, he was named a Distinguished International Fellow (now Distiguished Internatioal Fellow) of the Society.
Longtme ASTMH member Patricia Rosenfield, PhD, who worked with him at WHO and Carnegie, and Prof. Michael R Reich, a close colleague of his at Harvard, prepared the following obituary:
Adetokunbo O. Lucas, MD
Dr. Adetokunbo O. Lucas, the world’s leading tropical disease expert, passed away peacefully on Christmas day at his home in Ibadan, Nigeria. Born in Nigeria on November 25, 1931 into a distinguished academic and religious leadership family, he was educated in Nigeria, the UK, and the U.S. A Rockefeller Foundation fellowship took him in the 1950s to study at Harvard University, USA, where years later he became Professor of International Health. He blazed new pathways in academic and international leadership as well as in clinical medicine, public health, and global health policy.
Dr. Lucas was the first Nigerian Head of the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, conducting pathbreaking work on meningitis, malaria, schistosomiasis, and other tropical diseases. At the WHO, he served as pioneering director for 10 years of the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases. Under his leadership, new forms of therapy were developed, still in use today, for malaria, river blindness, elephantiasis, sleeping sickness, schistosomiasis, and leprosy as well as new approaches in social, economic, and epidemiological research. There, he initiated the innovative public-private partnership, starting with Merck Corporation, to use ivermectin to treat river blindness.
At Carnegie Corporation of New York he became the first chair of the Strengthening Human Resources in Developing Countries Program. Amongst his many innovative partnership building grants, with Columbia University and universities across West Africa, he launched the Prevention of Maternal Mortality Program to save women's lives across Africa, and then, in support of WHO's Safe Motherhood Initiative, globally. He served as senior global health advisor to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carter Center. Populations around the world still benefit from his legacy.
He received innumerable honorary degrees, academic awards and recognition from professional organizations, including: one of 20 Harvard University Medals at its 350th Anniversary celebration; the first Ademola Award for his outstanding contributions to tropical disease research; Honorary Fellow of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which also established a lecture room in his honor; the Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter Humanitarian Award; the Prince Mahidol Award for his global contributions to tropical disease research; and the "Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn" for his good deeds in Thailand.
In the recent book, Disease Fighters since 1950, he was highlighted as one of the 12 greatest fighters for worldwide health in our time. In addition, Dr. Lucas was known to his friends around the world as a delightful human, with an infectious sense of humor and the ability to tell the right humorous story and jokes at just the right occasion. He became a master organist in his 50s, sharing the joy of music with family and friends. He treasured most his titles of husband, father, and grandfather. He leaves behind his beloved wife and best friend of 62 years, Kofo, and his adored children, daughter Dayo, sons Funlade and Ladipo, their spouses, and six cherished grandchildren. His dear daughter Funto predeceased him. The world has lost a great humanitarian in global health, and for so many, a dear friend and mentor.
(Rosenfield/Reich. 12/27/20)