Professor Aderonke Omobonike Akinpelu (nee Mosadomi) was born on the 21st of December, 1954 in Osogbo, to the family of late Mr Adediran Mosadomi and Chief Mrs Mogbolajo Mosadomi of Ile Olobado, Osogbo, Osun State. Her earliest education was in five different primary schools as she had to change schools each time her sister was transferred. She had her secondary education in St. Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan between 1968 and 1972; and higher school education (A Levels) in Ibadan Grammar School between 1973 and 1974.
Prof. Aderonke Akinpelu studied physiotherapy at the University of Ibadan between 1974 and 1977, obtaining a B.Sc. degree in physiotherapy (Second Class Upper Division). She started her academic career as a Graduate Assistant in September 1978, after completing the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corp. She studied Exercise Physiology at the postgraduate level in the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan on a part-time basis and obtained her PhD in September 1990.
She was awarded Part A and B certificates in the McKenzie mechanical diagnosis and therapy by the McKenzie Institute International in June 1997. She became a regular staff of the University of Ibadan on 1st October 1984, when she was appointed a Lecturer Grade II in the College of Medicine. She gradually rose through the ranks and became a full Professor in 2011. Between February 1995 and June 1997, she worked as an Assistant Professor in King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, where she improved her clinical skills in Paediatric Physiotherapy. In 2005, she was appointed as an honorary consultant by the University College Hospital, Ibadan.
Prof Akinpelu has contributed a lot to physiotherapy education in Nigeria. She was Head of Department three times (Aug 1998-July 2000, Aug 2003-July 2005 and May 2012-July 2014). She was a three-time chairperson of Physiotherapy Undergraduate Curriculum Review Committee (1990-1991; 2011-2014; 2019-till date). One of these teams reviewed the 4-year B.Sc. Physiotherapy curriculum to a 5-year B. Physiotherapy curriculum (1990-1991) and has just concluded the revision of the 5-year B. Physiotherapy curriculum to a 6-year Doctor of Physiotherapy curriculum.
She has supervised over 50(fifty) undergraduate and more than 30(thirty) MSc, 2 MPhil and 8 PhD research projects in University of Ibadan. In addition, she co-supervised a PhD research project in University of Pretoria, South Africa. Prof. Akinpelu has served as external examiner to several universities in Nigeria both for the undergraduate and postgraduate examinations. She has also served as external examiner to universities in Ghana for undergraduate studies and Canada for a doctoral examination. It is heart-warming and worthy of note that four of her proteges have also become Professors of Physiotherapy including Prof. Daniel Olufemi Odebiyi (current Deputy Provost, College of Medicine, University of Lagos), Prof. Bosede Abidemi Tella (former Head, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Lagos), Prof. Adesola Christiana Odole (current Head, Department of Physiotherapy, University of Ibadan) and Prof. Fatai Maruf (former Head, Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi). In the 46 years of her work at the University of Ibadan, she has made major contributions to physiotherapy training and practice in Nigeria.
Prof Akinpelu’s research effort is in three major areas, health outcomes assessment and quality of life (QoL), musculoskeletal health and exercise physiology. In collaboration with other researchers, she successfully developed two Nigerian culture-centric and environment-friendly standardised outcome measures, the Ibadan Knee/Hip Osteoarthritis Measure (IKHOAM) and the Ibadan Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (ILBPDQ). The IKHOAM is the first standardised outcome measure that was contributed by any group of researchers from Nigeria to English medical literature and it has been linguistically validated into Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. She generated data on quality of life of Nigerian stroke survivors and linguistically validated WHOQoL-Bref into Yoruba. She has cross-culturally adapted and validated many pain-rating, QoL and disability scales into Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. She generated an equation to facilitate isotonic muscle strength measurement. She developed the Nigerian Back School, provided community-based data on pattern and prevalence of knee osteoarthritis and on developmental pattern and reference values of tibio-femoral angle in Nigerian children and adolescents. She provided evidence that exercise training is effective as adjunct therapy in blood pressure control in patients with hypertension. She generated age-reference values of body mass index and physical fitness for Nigerian young adults.
She won several research grants including the Welcome Trust Fund for her doctoral research project in 1989; University of Ibadan, Senate Grant (twice) and International Association for the Study of Pain -Developing Countries Pain Education Grant. She has over 105 peer-reviewed articles in journals from all over the world, 3 chapters in books and several conference paper presentations. Prof. Akinpelu is best described as someone who translates her research work to clinical practice, a unique feature which stands her out as a translational practitioner, physiotherapist and Professor. She hits the mat when the need arises, joins the fitness class when such is required and demonstrates procedures during practical sessions to ensure that knowledge is not only communicated but that understanding is also acquired.
Prof Akinpelu is member of the International Association for the Study of Pain and an active member of the Society for the Study of Pain, Nigeria, (SSPN).She was SSPN Treasurer (2005-2009), Vice President (2013-2019) and President (2019-2023).
Prof. Akinpelu is married to Mr. Olakunle Akinpelu and she is a mother to Gbemisola, Busola Oyindamola and Feyisola. She is a grandmother. As a children’s teacher in her local assembly at All Saints Church, Jericho, Ibadan, she has been a mother to a hoard of other young people.
