Oluwadamilola Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS


Highlights
- Helen O. Dickens Presidential Associate Professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
- Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery, University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine)
- Surgical Director, Rena Rowan Breast Center, Abramson Cancer Center,
- Director of Health Equity Innovation, Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation
- Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at Penn
Dr. Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju is the Helen O. Dickens Presidential Associate Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery for the University of Pennsylvania Health System, also known as Penn Medicine. She is also Surgical Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center in the Abramson Cancer Center, Director of Health Equity Innovation at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, and a Senior Fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at Penn.
Dr. Fayanju is an academic breast surgical oncologist whose research spans four areas:
- Addressing disparities and promoting equity in breast cancer presentation, treatment, outcome, and clinical trial participation
- Improving prognostication and treatment for biologically aggressive variants of breast cancer
- Creating value in oncologic care, especially through the collection and application of patient-reported outcomes
- Elucidating the importance of race, ethnicity, and gender in the conduct of research and the promotion of a diverse healthcare and medical research workforce.
She received her undergraduate degree in history and science and an MA in comparative literature from Harvard. She received her MD and a Master of Population Health Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also completed her residency in General surgery. She completed fellowship training in breast surgical oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
In 2019, she was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar. Her research is supported by a diverse array of organizations including the National Institutes of Health and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and she has published in a variety of journals including Annals of Surgery, Cancer, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, JCO Oncology Practice, JAMA Oncology, JAMA Surgery, and JAMA.