Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, FACS, is an Associate Director and Innovation Faculty member at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation (PC3I) as well as the Director in of the Program in Health Equity Innovation at PC3I. She is the inaugural Helen O. Dickens Presidential Associate Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine, Surgical Director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center, and the Chief of the Division of Breast Surgery for Penn Medicine. Dr. Fayanju received both her undergraduate degree in History and Science and a master of arts in Comparative Literature from Harvard. She received her medical degree and a master of population health sciences (MPHS) 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 Houston. Most recently, she was an Associate Professor of Surgery and Population Health Sciences in the Duke University School of Medicine, Associate Director for Disparities & Value in Healthcare with Duke Forge, and Director of the Durham VA Breast Clinic, where she established a breast cancer support group for female veterans. She also founded the Duke Women’s Health Community Engagement Task Force and co-directed the Breast Outcomes Research Group. 

Dr. Fayanju has a strong and long-standing commitment to promoting the equity and efficacy with which breast cancer patients are treated, a guiding principle that is reflected in her clinical practice and research endeavors. Her research lies at the intersection of redressing disparities and improving value in oncologic care, particularly through the use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Nationally, she is active in the American Society of Breast Surgeons, the Association for Academic Surgery, the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, and the Society of Surgical Oncology. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Surgical Outcomes Club and on the editorial boards of the Annals of Surgery Open, Annals of Surgical Oncology, the American Journal of Surgery, and JCO Oncology Practice. In 2019, she was recognized by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar, selected as one of 10 early- and mid-career researchers nationwide felt to “represent the next generation of leading scientists, health care providers, public health professionals, and policymakers.”