For Abi Fapohunda, DrPH, MPH, MS, assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences (BCHS), her work as a health educator has long been shaped by her own experiences.
In 2016, while visiting her mother in Lagos, Nigeria, Fapohunda—then an adjunct professor and public health care consultant—spent weeks at Lakeshore Cancer Center, the first facility in Nigeria dedicated solely to cancer prevention and treatment, where her mother was receiving palliative care for end-stage colorectal cancer. Sitting by her mother’s side during chemotherapy, she began asking the clinic staff questions that would eventually define her research and practice.
“I started talking to the doctors and nurses, asking ‘What’s really going on with cancer here?’” she recalls. “In my family, like in many Nigerian families, it was taboo to talk about cancer. No one wanted to bring it up—not even when people we loved were dying from it.”
What she learned stayed with her. The clinic had been open for three years, yet no one had ever reviewed their data. She asked to take a look—and when she returned to the U.S., she applied for a grant to support the work. “That moment changed everything for me,” she says. “It made me realize how my background in epidemiology could help communities like the one I grew up in—and how much work there was to do.”
She returned to Lagos for two years, analyzing clinic records and uncovering troubling patterns: About 97% of patients were already symptomatic by the time they arrived at the clinic. Many health professionals lacked adequate training in preventive health, which she surmised could be contributing to low awareness of cancer guidelines and limited referrals for screening and early diagnosis.
“I kept thinking—I talk to students about risk factors, about prevention, but I never once asked my own mother if she’d had a colonoscopy,” she says. “That loss made me want to change the conversation.”
From that seed grew a long-term partnership with Lakeshore Cancer Center, focused on improving cancer awareness and training health care providers across Nigeria.
In 2022, with funding from a Rotary Foundation Global Grant through the Rotary Club of Monroeville and the Lekki Phase 1 Club in Lagos, Fapohunda and her collaborators launched an e-learning platform for cancer education. The first curriculum reached participants in all of Nigeria’s 36 states, with a few international attendees joining in. Now, they’re developing a second module, focused on HPV vaccination and cervical cancer.
From Adjunct to Global Educator
Fapohunda’s path to full-time faculty at Pitt Public Health began more than 18 years ago. In 2007, she began teaching part time while continuing her consulting business in public health practice and research, becoming an assistant professor in BCHS.
“I was already doing all the things I loved—teaching, mentoring, engaging with communities—so it made sense to fully embrace the academic side,” she says.
Her global perspective is central to everything she does. Born in England and raised in Lagos, Fapohunda has worked with partners across West Africa and the United States on cancer disparities, and community-based public health. Her research and teaching emphasize the importance of working with—not just in—communities.
“The key for me is partnership,” she says. “You can’t just drop in with your own ideas and expect change. You have to build trust, listen and co-create.”
A Transnational Learning Experience
That same philosophy shapes her classroom. Fapohunda regularly brings international voices into her courses, whether through guest lectures or virtual exchanges with students in Nigeria. Recently, she helped lead a two-year transnational collaboration, supported by Pitt’s Global Studies Center, called Global TEACH. The project involved faculty and staff from Pitt’s central and Johnstown campuses and the Center for African Studies, the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health, Babcock University in Ileshan-Remo, Nigeria, and the Lakeshore Cancer Center.
Together, the team developed a two-semester, cross-cultural program that brought together 24 undergraduate students—from public health, nursing, political science and other disciplines—across three institutions. The students participated in weekly joint sessions and small-group projects.
“I want students to get out of their silos,” she says. “It’s important for them to see how public health looks in other contexts—and how much we can learn from people outside the U.S.”
Fulbright Reflections
This summer, Fapohunda completed a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad in Senegal focused on fostering connections with local institutions and communities, while immersing participants in Senegal’s history, culture and academic life.
Her cohort of 16 included faculty from across disciplines—sociology, public health, social work, history, law, criminal justice, theater arts, arts and architecture, anthropology, gender studies and Africana studies—and two doctoral students. Among them was Pitt Public Health faculty member Tiffany Gary-Webb, PhD, professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Health Equity. Fapohunda and Gary-Webb were the only public health representatives in the group.
“It was an enriching experience,” she says. “I wasn’t just lecturing—I was learning from them too. There are brilliant, resourceful people working in these countries, and I wanted to highlight that for my students here.”
She’s already begun incorporating elements of the Fulbright project into her courses at Pitt, including case studies on health systems in West Africa and real-world examples of cross-border collaboration.
Looking Ahead
Fapohunda continues to grow her work in Nigeria while mentoring students in Pittsburgh. She is particularly passionate about supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds and encouraging young people to pursue public health careers.
“We need young adults to be engaged in solving public health challenges,” she says. “But we also need to create the environments where they have access to tools and resources to do that work themselves—not just rely on others to solve the problems for them.”
She’s seen firsthand how impactful that approach can be.
“I've met so many incredibly bright students—especially in underserved settings. All they need is someone to believe in them, to give them access, and they’ll thrive.”
“Mentorship is a big part of who I am,” she adds. “I want students to know they belong here. Their perspectives are valuable, and their work can have a real impact.”
-Clare Collins