Onikepe Owolabi is one of two Directors of International Research at the Guttmacher Institute. Prior to assuming this role in 2023, Onikepe was the Senior Global Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Family Planning at IntraHealth International. Previously, she was a Senior Research Scientist at Guttmacher from 2016 to 2021; her research at that time focused primarily on abortion and maternal morbidity measurement and the quality of sexual and reproductive health care within health systems. Onikepe has research and programmatic expertise in maternal and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and has authored or coauthored more than 50 peer-reviewed and other scientific publications.

Onikepe completed her medical degree at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, her master’s degree in global health at the University of Oxford and her PhD at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was also part of the 2022 US Cohort of the WomenLiftHealth Leadership Journey, an experiential, results-driven fellowship for mid- to senior-career women in health whose work serve target populations in low- and middle-income countries.