New health officer named

Adnike Shoyinka to lead Ingham County Health Department beginning mid-February

Posted

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 — Dr. Adnike Shoyinka, the medical director of the Ingham County Health
Department, will succeed Health Officer Linda Vail as department head.
She was appointed by the county Board of Commissioners late last year, Vail and Ingham
County Commissioner Todd Tennis confirmed yesterday. Vail announced last year that she will
retire in February after nine years in the job. Shoyinka will take over in mid-February.
Vail said the early appointment has allowed the two to focus on a seamless transition. The two
have been meeting via Zoom twice a week.
“She’s the right person for the job,” said Vail. She said she had been mentoring Shoyinka to
become a health officer after recognizing her “ability to connect with people.” Vail encouraged
her to apply for her position when she announced her retirement last year.
“Ingham County has a history of hiring from within for health officers,” said Tennis, who chairs
the commission’s Health and Human Services Committee. “Linda Vail was an exception to that
rule.” Vail had been in the same role in Kalamazoo County before she came to work for Ingham
County.
“We are very excited as to what Dr. Shoyinka will bring to the county,” Tennis added. “She was
a perfect fit.”
Shoyinka graduated from Ibadan Medical School in Nigeria and completed her internal medicine
residency at Harlem Hospital through Columbia University in New York City. Her infectious

fellowship was completed through Henry Ford Hospital and Wayne State University, according
to her LinkedIn profile.
“Dr. Shoyinka believes that when barriers to basic needs for life, including optimal healthcare,
are removed every individual and the family unit, as a whole, has the opportunity to thrive,” her
LinkedIn profile states. “Her passion for bridging health care gaps in resource-limited
communities has led her to volunteer with various international non-profit organizations where
she works to identify and create innovative programs to develop sustainable capacity in those
low-income settings in Africa.”
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the state and county, Shoyinka led the medical
response and was the key adviser to Vail. In an interview on the one-year anniversary of
COVID’s arrival in Michigan, Shoyinka discussed how the 18-plus hour days counseling
businesses, medical professionals and others on responding to the pandemic with the latest
medical knowledge took a toll.

“I would just be walking down the street, tears running down my face,” she said at the time.
“There were just points where I had to walk away. I had to.”
She was also a key leader in the COVID vaccine rollout in the county. City Pulse interviewed
both Shoyinka and Vail about the vaccine in December 2020.

Ingham County Health Department, Health Office, Ingham County Commission, Dr. Adnike Shoyinka, Linda Vail

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