Dr Motunrayo Ajisola

Dr Motunrayo Ajisola

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Project Manager – Global Health Research

Contact details

Email
m.m.ajisola@bham.ac.uk
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Dr Motunrayo Ajisola is a Medical Sociologist and Global Health Researcher at the University of Birmingham, where she works as a Project Manager for NIHR-funded global health research programmes. Her research focuses on healthcare access, care-seeking behaviour, health inequalities, and implementation science, examining how social and health-system factors influence the delivery and uptake of healthcare among underserved populations.

Working across the Africa, Asia, and the UK, she contributes to multidisciplinary and multi-country research programmes spanning digital health, mental health, emergency care, and health-system strengthening. Through qualitative and mixed-methods research, she seeks to generate policy-relevant evidence, strengthen research capacity, and improve healthcare access and outcomes globally.

Qualifications

  • MSc in Project Management, University of Northampton, United Kingdom, 2024
  • PhD in (Medical) Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2018
  • MSc in Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2012
  • BSc (Hons) in Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, 2008

Biography

Dr Motunrayo Ajisola is a Medical Sociologist and Global Health Researcher with expertise in healthcare access, care-seeking behaviour, health inequalities, implementation science, and health-systems research. She holds a PhD in Sociology (Medical Sociology) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and has contributed to multidisciplinary and multi-country research programmes across Africa, Asia, and the United Kingdom.

Her research examines how social and health-system factors influence healthcare access, care-seeking behaviour, and the implementation of evidence-based interventions among underserved populations. She applies qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to generate policy-relevant evidence that informs health systems, service delivery, and population health improvement. Her work spans mental health, digital health, emergency care, and health-system strengthening, with publications in journals including The Lancet Global Health, BMJ Global Health, and PLOS ONE.

Currently, Dr Ajisola works at the University of Birmingham, where she contributes to NIHR-funded global health research programmes focused on emergency and injury care. She supports implementation research, international partnerships, stakeholder engagement, and research delivery across collaborative projects involving African, Asian, and UK institutions.

Prior to joining the University of Birmingham, she held research and project leadership roles on NIHR-, UKRI-, MRC-, and GCRF-funded programmes at the University of Ibadan. She also contributed to the NIHR-funded TRANSFORM project, which examined access to care for people living with serious mental disorders in urban slum communities.

Alongside her research, Dr Ajisola is committed to research capacity strengthening through mentoring and supporting the development of junior researchers and research support staff. Her long-term goal is to improve healthcare access and address health inequalities through medical sociology, implementation science, and global health research.

Research

Research Interests

Healthcare access, health inequalities, implementation science, digital health, mental health, emergency care, and health-system strengthening.

Current Project

Rwanda912 (NIHR-funded): Use of an innovative electronic communications platform to improve prehospital transport of injured people in Rwanda.

Publications

Quinn, L., Assuman, N., Nishimwe, A., ... , Ajisola, M., et al. (2025). Use of an innovative electronic communications platform (912Rwanda) to improve prehospital transport of injured people in Rwanda: protocol for a type 2 hybrid effectiveness-implementation interrupted time series study. BMJ Open, 15(8), e100826.

Udo, S., Ogbu, S.P., Tsaku, P., Oladejo, I., Meka, A., Ugwu, L., Ajisola, M., et al. (2024). Protocol for the Honey Experiment on Leprosy Ulcer (HELP) randomized controlled trial protocol. JMIRx Med, 5:e50970.

Sturt, J., Griffiths, F., Ajisola, M., et al. (2023). REaCH Trials: Safety and upscaling of remote consulting in Nigeria and Tanzania. Lancet Global Health, 11(11), e1753-e1764.

Fayehun, O., Madan, J., Oladejo, A., Oni, O., Owoaje, E., Ajisola, M., et al. (2023). What influences slum residents' choices of healthcare providers? A discrete choice experiment in Nigeria. PLOS Global Public Health

Omigbodun, A.O., Agboola, A.D., Fayehun, O.A., Ajisola, M., Oladejo, A., Popoola, O., Lilford, R. (2023). Trends in clinical stage at presentation for four common adult cancers in Ibadan, Nigeria.medRxiv (Preprint).

Oyebode, O., Ajisola, M., et al. (2022). Factors associated with healthcare access and utilisation in slums in low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review. BMJ Open, 12(5), e055415.

Fayehun, O., Ajisola, M., Uthman, O., et al. (2022). A contextual exploration of healthcare service use in urban slums in Nigeria. PLOS ONE, 17(2), e0264725.

Ajisola, M.M. (Ayobola, M.M.), Nwokocha, E.E. (2022). Factors constituting barriers to seeking healthcare for postnatal depression among mothers in Ibadan, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 20(1), 46-60.

Harris, B., Ajisola, M., et al. (2021). Mobile consulting as an option for delivering healthcare services in low-resource settings in low- and middle-income countries: A mixed-methods study. Digital Health, 7.

Ahmed, S., Ajisola, M., Azeem, K., et al. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 responses on access to healthcare in slum communities across Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, and Pakistan. BMJ Global Health, 5(8), e003042.

Ajisola, M.M. (Ayobola, M.M.), Nwokocha, E.E. (2014). Social context of healthcare utilization among people with mental illness in Southwestern Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 12(2), 16-30.

A full list of publications, citation metrics, and research outputs is available via ORCID and Google Scholar.