An award winning and passionate medical specialist with broad medical exposure both nationally and internationally, Dr Abia Nzelu is the Executive Secretary of mass medical mission. She is the initiator of the Voluntary Integrated Sight-Saving Initiative of Nigeria (VISSION) and its mobile community-based arm, known as Mission PinkVISSION which integrates ocular oncology and blindness prevention into the National Cancer Prevention Programme and other initiatives of mass medical mission.
Dr Nzelu graduated from the University of Benin with a Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery degree (MBBS), followed by over two decades of clinical and administrative experience, spanning the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including best-in-class mission hospitals.
She obtained international postgraduate fellowships and certifications from three continents, including Africa, Asia (the Republic of India) and the Americas (the Republic of Brazil). Abia is a Fellow and Consultant of both the West African College of Surgeons and the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.
Abia’s professional career involved exposure to world – renowned institutions including the Vision Institute, Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil; Aravind Hospital and Postgraduate Institute, India; Narayana Nethralaya Super-specialty Hospital and Postgraduate Institute, India; the Lagos University Teaching Hospital; among others. She has presented papers in national and international conferences, and is also a member of several local and international academic societies.
A champion of catalytic and concerted philanthropy, Dr Abia authored a seminal book titled “Giving in Nigeria – An Environmental Scan”, a publication that was funded by the Ford Foundation. She is the Executive Secretary of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP-Nigeria) and ↓↑Givingtide international.