Helping to make the University of Michigan an inclusive, equitable environment both in the classroom and on the athletic field has been Oluwaferanmi Okanlami’s mission as director of student accessibility and accommodation services.

In that role, Okanlami — or Dr. O, as he’s known around campus — oversees the office of Services for Students with Disabilities, two testing accommodation centers, and academic support and access partnerships. He is also the founding director of U-M’s Adaptive Sports & Fitness Program.

“I am particularly proud of the growth and development of the Adaptive Sports and Fitness Program,” said Okanlami, this year’s recipient of the James T. Neubacher Award. “As an institution that is known both for its stellar academics and high-level athletics, we are well on our way to building a sustainable program that supports disabled athletes at all levels, including those with hopes of representing their country in the Paralympic Games. 

“We are also inclusive of non-disabled individuals, demonstrating that adaptive sports are for everyone, and educating our community on disability awareness, culture and inclusion in the process.”

The Neubacher Award is a memorial to Jim Neubacher, a U-M alumnus and writer for the Detroit Free Press who championed equity and opportunities for the disabled. It is presented annually to a U-M faculty or staff member, student or alumni who has exhibited leadership in support of the disability community.

In addition to his work in Student Accessibility and Accommodation Services, Okanlami is an assistant professor of family medicine, of physical medicine & rehabilitation, of urology, of and orthopedic surgery, and associate director of the Health Policy and Economics Path of Excellence at Michigan Medicine. He also holds an adjunct associate professor of orthopedic surgery appointment at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he is helping develop an adaptive sports medicine program in anticipation of the upcoming Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.

Born in Nigeria, Okanlami immigrated to the U.S. at a young age. He attended high school at Deerfield Academy and college at Stanford University, where he ran track and field, serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All-American honors. 

He then earned an M.D. from U-M before matching into orthopedic surgery at Yale. At the beginning of his third year, he experienced a spinal cord injury during a diving accident and was paralyzed from the chest down. After two surgeries and rehabilitation, Okanlami did recover some motor function. He now navigates the world as a proud wheelchair user. 

“I was born to two physician parents, attended private schools through most of my education, and have been in a position of privilege for the majority of my life. After my injury, once I started to live life ‘from the other side of the stethoscope,’ as I call it, I recognized how unintentionally complicit I had been to perpetuating the system of ableism that exists in higher education, in our health systems, and in the world in general,” Okanlami said.

“So, I turned my attention to doing whatever I could to make sure that everyone, regardless of disability status, was given equitable access to live their lives to the fullest. There were opportunities that I had been afforded as a non-disabled student, clinician and citizen of the world that were now inaccessible to members of the disability community, despite them being just as deserving.”

Okanlami went on to earn a master’s in engineering, science and technology entrepreneurship from the University of Notre Dame, and completed his family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. He also served on the St. Joseph County Board of Health, appointed by Pete Buttigieg, then-mayor of South Bend.

At U-M, Okanlami is a member of the university’s Institute on Health Policy and Innovation and is on the steering committee of the Well-Being Collective and the advisory committee for U-M’s Inclusive History Project. He received Michigan Medicine’s Distinguished Early Career Alumni Award in 2020, was given “A Teacher’s Teacher Award” by the Academy of Medical Educators.

Nationally, Okanlami sits on the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honors Society Board of Directors, has served as the disability issues representative on the Steering Committee for the Group on Diversity and Inclusion at the Association of American Medical Colleges; he sits on the National Medical Association’s Council on Medical Legislation, and he was selected by the White House Office of Public Engagement to participate in the Health Equity Leaders Roundtable Series dedicated to exploring perspectives around Access to Care. He was appointed to the America250 Foundation Health and Wellness Advisory Council and President Biden’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.

Okanlami has a catch phrase, “Disabusing Disability,” which he hopes demonstrates that disability doesn’t mean inability.

“For his compassionate advocacy, and vast contributions to disability rights, mentorship and inclusion, Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami embodies the hallmarks of the James T. Neubacher Award,” said Pam McGuinty, co-chair of the Council for Disability Concerns and co-chair of this year’s Neubacher Award selection committee.

“This recognition is truly an acknowledgment of the support I have been provided by the entire disability community here at U-M and across Ann Arbor,” Okanlami said.

“As someone who has now had two stints here at Michigan, first as a non-disabled medical student years ago and now as a disabled faculty and staff member, my University of Michigan experience has varied significantly. When I returned to Ann Arbor in 2017 after completing my residency, I was still in the process of understanding my own disability journey.

“It was members of our disability community here that showed me grace, introduced me to aspects of disability culture and identity, and gave me an opportunity to get involved in disability advocacy, first as a passion, and then eventually as a profession. So, while this may be called an individual award, I truly believe this reflects the collective efforts of people who have poured into me, and who gave me the opportunity to be where I am today.”   

The Neubacher Award, which was established in 1990, is sponsored by the Council for Disability Concerns, the Equity, Civil Rights and Title IX Office, University Human Resources, Michigan Medicine and the Office of the President.