Dr. Oluwadamilola Fayanju appointed Head of Surgery at QHS and KHSC

News & Announcements | 03 Mar 2026

On the recommendation of Dean Lisa Tannock, Matthew Evans, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), has appointed Oluwadamilola “Lola” Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, FACS, as professor and head of the Department of Surgery, for a five year term effective July 15, 2026. Dr. Fayanju will also serve as Head, Department of Surgery at Kingston Health Sciences Centre, and hold the Britton Smith Chair in Surgery during this time.

Dean Tannock would like to extend her sincere gratitude to Dr. Ross Walker for his outstanding leadership of the Department of Surgery since 2020. In that role, Dr. Walker’s vision and initiative led to many innovations and successes in the department.

A renowned breast surgical oncologist and health services researcher, Dr. Fayanju joins Queen’s from the University of Pennsylvania, where she is the inaugural Helen O. Dickens Presidential Professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and founding chief of the Division of Breast Surgery for Penn Medicine. She is also surgical director of the Rena Rowan Breast Center in the Abramson Cancer Center, program director for Implementation Innovation at the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, and a senior fellow in the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. In these roles, she has led multidisciplinary clinical programs, developed research infrastructure, and integrated equity, implementation science and outcomes measurement into clinical practice across a major academic health system.

She received an AB in History and Science and an AM in Comparative Literature from Harvard University, her MD and Master of Population Health Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis, where she also completed a residency in general surgery, and completed a fellowship in Breast Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr. Fayanju’s research focuses on advancing equity and patient-centered outcomes in cancer care delivery across four interconnected areas: examining and identifying solutions for disparities in care, improving prognostication and treatment for biologically aggressive variants of breast cancer, integrating patient-reported outcomes and data on social determinants of health into cancer care delivery, and promoting recruitment and retention of a diverse healthcare and medical research workforce. Her work has informed how academic health systems identify and address modifiable barriers to timely cancer treatment and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She has published extensively in leading journals including Annals of Surgery as well as the JAMA and Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO) journal families.

She is involved in several professional societies, currently serving as President of the Surgical Outcomes Club, on the Board of Directors for the Society of Surgical Oncology, and on the editorial boards for Annals of Surgery, the Annals of Surgical Oncology, and JCO Oncology Practice.

Beyond her contributions to research and clinical care, Dr. Fayanju has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to mentorship throughout her career, supervising and supporting numerous students, residents, fellows, and junior faculty across all stages of academic development. Her contributions to mentorship have also been celebrated at a national level; in 2024, she was recognized as an ‘outstanding mentor’ by the Association of Women Surgeons.

Please join Dean Tannock in congratulating Dr. Fayanju on her appointment.

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Dr. Oluwadamilola Fayanju appointed Head of Surgery at QHS and KHSC

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