Event celebrates significant achievements including training more than 300 surgeons, and delivering landmark clinical trials.
The NIHR Global Health Research Unit commemorates a decade of groundbreaking surgical research and international collaboration with Global Surgery’s Nigeria Hub.
Surgical researchers, health practitioners, and policymakers today (27 Jan) came together to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the University of Birmingham-led global surgery initiative based in Nigeria – a decade of partnership helping to improve surgery across the country through evidence based surgical research.
The NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery’s Nigeria Hub has created a network of hospitals in seven countries across the Global South - delivering pioneering surgical research, capacity development, and shaping healthcare policy.
The Nigeria Hub has built a thriving nationwide research network, expanding to more than 30 centres, including tertiary and secondary hospitals across all six geopolitical zones.
From shaping national surgical policy and advancing world‑leading research to building a sustainable pipeline of clinician‑scientists, the Nigeria Hub has become a model for surgical research excellence in Africa and beyond.
This has enabled unprecedented collaboration, cementing Nigeria’s position as a leading contributor to international multi‑centre surgical studies. Significant achievements of the Nigeria Hub over the last decade include:
Speaking at an event at the University of Lagos to mark the anniversary, Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams, Provost of the University of Birmingham said: “Our surgical hub in Nigeria must proudly celebrate its 10‑year milestone. From shaping national surgical policy and advancing world‑leading research to building a sustainable pipeline of clinician‑scientists, the Nigeria Hub has become a model for surgical research excellence in Africa and beyond.
“We are a global civic university committed to supporting Nigerian society. Not simply sharing knowledge but building enduring systems, strengthening local capacity, and supporting Nigerian institutions to lead meaningful, sustainable change in surgical care.”
Professor Folasade Ogunsola, Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, and Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams, Provost of the University of Birmingham
The Hub has played a central role in several landmark global clinical trials. Notably, the ChEETaH trial—focused on reducing surgical site infections—led to a major national policy change. Its findings were formally adopted by the Federal Ministry of Health and integrated into the National Surgical Safety Checklist, now standard practice across Nigerian hospitals.
During the COVID‑19 pandemic, the Nigeria Hub contributed to influential global policy‑shaping studies and added Nigerian Names to the Guinness World Record for the largest number of authors on a single scientific paper.
Director of the Hub Professor Adesoji Ademuyiwa said: “The partnership between the University of Birmingham and University of Lagos within the milieu of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit with other leading universities in the UK and across the world has led to a complete change in the landscape of surgical research at the University of Lagos in particular and Nigeria at large.
“This partnership has built a strong capacity in participating in practice-changing randomised clinical trials, sound foundation in evidence generation and data analysis, curation, and training. It has also led to policy formulation and stakeholder engagement with Ministry of Health and Education with plans for further possible fundable projects locally.
A cornerstone of the Hub’s success has been its commitment to training and human capacity development. In addition, a dedicated Data Hub has provided hands‑on training in Excel and R programming for medical students, registrars, consultants, and research collaborators. This initiative has enhanced the nation’s analytical capacity and supported high‑quality data curation for major studies such as CATERPILLAR and ASON SSI.
Professor Dion Morton OBE, from the University of Birmingham, said: “The NIHR GSU Nigeria Hub has delivered an outstanding decade of success in helping to improve surgical safety in Africa and beyond. With its network of participating hospitals and strong leadership, the Hub is well place to deliver a further decade of grass-root participation in global surgical research.”
The Nigeria Hub also mentored the first student‑led national multi‑centre surgical study (PANTHER) involving 13 centres—an unprecedented milestone in building the next generation of surgical researchers. The approval of the MSc in Surgical Science programme at UNILAG embeds surgical research into postgraduate training and promotes long‑term sustainability of clinical research expertise.
Using NIHR GSU patient‑education toolkits, the Hub has trained over 500 Community Health Extension Workers (CHEWs) and Community Health Practitioners across Lagos, Osun, and Bauchi states on early recognition of surgical site infections, stoma care, wound management, and cancer referral pathways.
For more information, please contact the press office on +44 (0) 121 414 2772 or pressoffice@contacts.bham.ac.uk
As well as being ranked among the world’s top 100 institutions, the University of Birmingham is the most targeted UK university by top graduate employers. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, educators and more than 8,000 international students from over 150 countries.
The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in Low‑ and Middle‑income Countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.
The University of Lagos belongs to the first generation of universities of Nigeria and is ranked first in Nigeria by the Times Higher Education. The slogan of the university – the university of first choice and the Nation’s pride – captures the high patronage the university enjoys among prospective students across the country. The university has over 60,000 students.
Barling Professor of Surgery
Profile of Professor Dion Morton, Professor of Surgery, Department of Applied Health Sciences, University of Birmingham
Provost and Vice-Principal
Professor Nick Vaughan-Williams FAcSS is Provost and Vice-Principal at the University of Birmingham.
