Ekanem E. Ekanem is a Professor of Epidemiology at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos and has an extensive experience as a Lecturer, Researcher and Data analyst investigating threats and risks to health in specific population groups. Prof Ekanem has expertise in Epidemiology and Biostatistics with research interests in Diarrhoeal Diseases, HIV/AIDS, Influenza, Reproductive Health Epidemiology.He had his training in Public Health at the University of Texas, School of Public Health at Houston where he earned the MPH and PhD degrees (Epidemiology). His further training was at the École de santé Publique de l'Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, where he earned a Mastersdegree  in Statistical Methods. He has served as a Principal Investigator in a number of diarrhoeal disease projects funded by the Harvard Institute for International Development under the Applied Diarrheal Disease Project (ADDR) as well the Community Linkage Project supported by UNICEF.  He has also been the Principal Investigator as well as co-Investigator on numerous community-based Reproductive Health studies funded by the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation under the Fund for Leadership (FLD) research grants; managing people, materials and money. His current  researchinterest is in the area of reproductive health epidemiology, specifically estimation and determinants of maternal mortality. He is currently working with a team of Public Health epidemiologists and gynaecologists on a concurrent cohort study aimed at investigating the contribution of female genital cutting/mutilation to maternal and peri-natal outcomes, with possible financial support from TETFUND. He has over 65 publications in peer- reviewed journals.