Dr. Olufunto Olusanya joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Assistant Professor in July of 2025. She is a physician, implementation scientist, and epidemiologist with over 17 years of clinical experience and 12 years of impactful research expertise. Dr. Olusanya’s expertise allows her to investigate innovative methods blending community participatory research, social determinants of health, and digital health. Her work aims to enhance the adoption of evidence-based interventions such as screenings, vaccinations, and policies in public health, effectively closing the gap between research and practice. During her career at the CDC, Dr. Olusanya worked as a Behavioral Health Scientist (contractor), focusing on reducing pediatric vaccine hesitancy and building public trust in childhood vaccinations.
She achieved this through collaborative research with internal and external stakeholders at the state and local levels. At the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and Texas A&M University, she effectively applied implementation frameworks, models, and theories to systematically implement and evaluate multi-site NIH studies on cancer disparities, social determinants of health, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation. Her research centers on Community Participatory Research, Implementation Science, Cancer Disparities. Moreover, she has contributed to over 30 publications in leading scientific journals to bridge the gap between research and practical application, making scientific findings accessible and beneficial to both the scientific community and the public.