Executive

Dr Jay Osi Samuels is APIN’s current Chief Executive Officer. He joined APIN Public Health Initiatives in 2006 and succeeded the pioneer CEO, Prof. Prosper Okonkwo, on October 1st 2026.

As CEO, he leads APIN into its next phase of growth, aiming to transform the organisation from an accomplished programme implementer into a public health and knowledge institution capable of developing solutions, implementing programmes at scale, generating evidence, influencing policy and strengthening health systems

His priorities include diversifying APIN’s funding, strengthening organisational research and scientific capacity, advancing APIN’s digital transformation through digital health and data science, and building partnerships with government, funders, academia, communities, and the private sector to ensure long-term sustainability and impact across Africa and globally.

Dr Jay Osi Samuels has more than three decades of experience across Nigeria in clinical medicine, public health, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis programming, laboratory systems, epidemiology, research, and health systems strengthening. He received his MB.BS degree from the University of Ibadan. He was a Bill and Melinda Gates Fellow from 2001 to 2005 and a Fogarty International Fellow from 2005 to 2006. He went on to earn an M.Sc. in Epidemiology from Harvard University’s School of Public Health in 2006.

Committed to lifelong learning, he completed the Oxford Healthcare Leadership Program at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, in 2025. He also completed certificates in Strategy and Project Management at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University. He is currently enrolled in an MBA programme at Hult International Business School.

He joined APIN Public Health Initiatives as a Fellow and steadily advanced from technical leadership of laboratory systems to Associate Director and then Director of Laboratory Services. From 2020 to 2026, he served as Deputy CEO, Programs, overseeing more than $50 million a year in donor-funded investments, including the CDC-supported Accelerated Comprehensive AIDS Response for Epidemic Control and Sustainability and Public Health Information, Surveillance, Solutions, and Systems programs. He also served as Principal Investigator of the APIN Capacitating Laboratories for Accreditation, Strengthening and Sustainability (CLASS) Project. His work has helped build public health infrastructure supporting more than 500 antiretroviral treatment centres and 200 clinical laboratories in Nigeria.

Outside of work, he is a good governance advocate, patriot and public affairs analyst.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jayosisamuels2026