Our organisation is led by a team of highly-cited researchers with over three decades of experience in conducting original research in non-communicable disorders and policy-oriented reviews to advance health equity for children with disabilities and their families.
Leadership
Dr. Bolajoko O. Olusanya
MBBS, FMCPaed, FRCPCH, PhD
Dr. Olusanya is the Centre Director of the Healthy Start Initiative (HSI). She is a Nigerian/UK trained developmental paediatrician with PhD in Child Health/Audio-Vestibular Medicine from the University College London. She is co-founder of the Centre for Healthy Start Initiative, Nigeria (an Organisation in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council), and the Medical Director of First Years Medical Centre and Phonics Hearing Centre in Nigeria.
She is a passionate and evidence-driven advocate for children with disabilities, accountability and decolonisation in global health. She has authored over 250 peer-reviewed articles spanning paediatrics, otolaryngology, audiology, general/rehabilitative medicine, maternal and child health, and international health policy. Her scientific work is inspired by her personal experience of inclusive education with congenital hearing loss, and uniquely focused on community-oriented management of developmental disabilities including early detection and intervention programmes, as well as the prevention and management of the associated risk factors. She is a reviewer for over 100 Medline-indexed scientific journals, besides research funding organisations. She serves on the editorial board of BMJ Paediatrics Open, International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, International Journal of Audiology, PLOS One, Frontiers in Public Health, Frontiers in Pediatrics, and the Christian Journal for Global Health.
She pioneered the largest hospital-based and community-based universal newborn hearing screening programmes in Nigeria/Africa from 2003 to 2008 (UNHS Nigeria), and was a leading contributor to the current World Health Organisation (WHO) classification system for hearing loss (Revised Hearing Loss Grades). She is the lead local investigator for the first and only randomised controlled trial on the use of filtered sunlight phototherapy for treating neonates with severe-to-hazardous hyperbilirubinaemia (Heliotherapy for Jaundice Nigeria). She is a Fellow/Member of several professional associations, including the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM), the European Academy of Childhood-onset Disability (EACD), the International Epidemiological Association (IEA), and the American Psychological Association (APA).
She is a Senior Collaborator with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study based at the Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Seattle, USA and the coordinator/co-founder, Global Research on Developmental Disabilities Collaborators (GRDDC). She received the 2018 Aram Glorig Award by the International Society of Audiology, in recognition of her contribution to global hearing healthcare. She is listed among the world’s top 2% highly-ranked scientists (Elsevier Data Repository), and has been awarded a lifetime highly ranked scholar status in hearing loss and developing countries in the field of public health by ScholarGPS. She is ranked as the leading researcher in paediatrics in Nigeria and among the top 5 in Africa (AD Scientific Index 2025).
She serves as Co-Chair of The Lancet Commission on Hearing Loss and a member of The Lancet Commission on Disability & Health.
Links to scientific works:
Jacob Olusegun Olusanya
BSc (Econs), MBA, M.CIoD
Mr Olusanya is Co-Founder and Policy Advisor for Healthy Start Initiative. A seasoned economist by training and a retired banker with a distinguished career in financial services industry in Nigeria from 1983 to 1998. He has extensive experience in managing research projects and grants in global health. He is a Senior Collaborator with the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study under the Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation (IHME), Seattle, USA. He is a highly-cited researcher with several publications in Google Scholar, PubMed and ResearchGate. He is Vice-Chairman, Phonics Hearing Centre, Nigeria and co-founder of the Centre for Healthy Start Initiative, Nigeria (an Organisation in Special Consultative Status with United Nations Economic and Social Council).
He was the pioneer Executive Director and later Managing Director/CEO of Express Discount Limited (a trading and investment firm in financial securities) between 1992 and 1998. He was appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a non-executive Director of Keystone Bank Limited (KBL) in November 2011 along with a team of experienced bankers to restructure and privatise KBL, which was successfully concluded in March 2017.
He is an alumnus of several reputable professional training institutions including the Lagos Business School, Nigeria; Institute of Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland; Haggai Institute, Hawaii, USA; Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, Stanford University, Palo Alto, USA and HAAS Business School, University of California, Berkeley, USA. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Directors.
Links to scientific works: