Oluwaferanmi Oyedeji Okanlami was appointed as a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition on March 24, 2023, for a 2-year term.
Dr. Okanlami (aka Dr. O) is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, and Urology at Michigan Medicine; an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at UCLA; and the Director of Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services at the University of Michigan, where he oversees Services for Students with Disabilities, 2 Testing Accommodation Centers, and the Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program. As a former academic All-American student-athlete at Stanford, he’s no stranger to the importance of sports, fitness, and nutrition. However, after experiencing a spinal cord injury during his orthopaedic surgery residency at Yale, he began to see life “from the other side of the stethoscope,” realizing how inaccessible our world is for individuals living with disabilities. He now navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user and has a catchphrase — “Disabusing Disability” — hoping to demonstrate that DISability doesn’t mean INability. He’s invited to speak regularly about topics related to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. This includes, but is not limited to, creating a health system that’s accessible to and inclusive of both patients and providers with disabilities and providing reasonable and appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities in higher education. He’s passionate about adaptive sports and fitness, striving to provide equitable access to physical fitness and inclusive recreational and competitive sports for all.
