Journey

The Journey of Lola Dare.

A life shaped by medicine, public health, leadership and the people who made each chapter possible.

The important part of a professional journey is not a list of appointments. It is what experience asks of us—and what it may make possible for others. Dr Lola Dare’s path passes through medicine, communities, public health systems, institutional leadership and the questions that continue to shape her contribution.

What can experience teach us about serving people and building what lasts?

Explore the Journey Explore Footprints
A large group of women gathered in front of a Chestrad banner
  • Decades of leadershipPublic health and development
  • Public healthSystems, services and resilience
  • Institution buildingPlatforms designed to last
  • Africa-led developmentLocal voice, local ownership

From formation to service, from systems to continuity

Chapter one

Early Formation

Sepia family portrait of Dr Dare in a striped gele beside a young girl in a blue dress
Roots, and the generation that follows
  1. 1961

    Born in Lagos, Nigeria

    Raised in a family shaped by faith, education, courage and community.

  2. 1970s

    Formation

    Early values of truth, resilience, dignity and service are formed through family, teachers and community.

Chapter two

Medical Training & Public Health

Archival black-and-white photograph of a father standing behind his seated daughter
The family foundation of a life in service
  1. 1980s

    Medical calling

    Medical education deepens her commitment to healing, public health and people-centred service.

  2. 1993

    CHESTRAD begins

    CHESTRAD is launched, laying a foundation for decades of African-led public health and development.

Chapter three

Institution-Building & Leadership

Dr Lola Dare's name plate on a UN executive board panel table beside other delegates
A seat at the institutional table
  1. 1990s–2010s

    Leading across people and systems

    Work across communities, institutions and policy spaces reinforces a central lesson: resilience is relational before it becomes structural.

  2. Circa 2011

    BOLD identity affirmed

    She embraces the name Boluwatife and the deeper meaning of a life lived BOLD on purpose.

Chapter four

Voice, Mission & Influence

Dr Dare at the Game Changers Women's Leadership Summit, Church House Westminster, 2023
The Power of We and I · 2023
  1. 2021

    BOLD on Purpose

    Her life story is captured in BOLD on Purpose, reflecting faith, family, loss, courage and purpose.

  2. 2021

    Bold Pathfinding Women of Africa

    She helps establish Bold Pathfinding Women of Africa, advancing women's voice, visibility and leadership.

Chapter five

Legacy & Mentorship

Event stage wall carrying Chestrad, BOLD, BPaWa and Pathfinder partner branding
The platforms that carry the work forward
  1. 2026

    Leading with Resilience

    People and Systems frames her legacy insight: communities carry strength, and institutions must learn to serve with dignity.

  2. 2026

    UbuntuPlus Resilience Readiness Framework

    Lived insight becomes a practical framework for resilience readiness, systems strengthening and investable change.

  3. 2026 and beyond

    BoldSpaces and legacy

    BoldSpaces becomes a platform for voice, reflection, stewardship, intergenerational learning and what continues.

  4. The journey continues

    From formation to service, from service to systems, from systems to continuity.

What the experiences taught

Behind the public milestones are changes in perspective: what it means to care for people, whose knowledge is heard, and how institutions become answerable to the communities they serve.

A speaker in a print dress addressing a seated hall of guests

01 · From care to systems

From caring for people to examining systems

Medicine brought Dr. Dare close to individual lives. Public health widened the frame to institutions, resources, policy and the conditions communities face. The same values—truth, courage, discipline and service—continued to guide her practice.

A pink dahlia flower close-up with garden bokeh

02 · From listening to institution-building

From community knowledge to structures that carry purpose

Communities hold knowledge formal systems can overlook. That conviction shaped a practice where people, relationships and institutions gather around purpose and act. Experience matters most when it can be carried forward.

A woman in a blazer speaking at a table with a Chestrad-bannered backdrop

Opening

Interpretation

These questions help explain the movement from clinical training to public health and from individual service to shared stewardship. They also show why Dr Dare has remained interested in the institutions that shape everyday choices.

A delegate listening and taking notes at a conference table

Guiding principle

The Journey is a selective account, rather than a complete career history. Its central lesson is practical: people have knowledge and agency, and institutions serve them better when they listen.

Key Milestones

  1. 1961 —Born in Lagos, Nigeria
  2. 1980s —Medical calling
  3. 1993 —CHESTRAD begins
  4. 1990s–2010s —Leading across people and systems
  5. 2021 —Bold Pathfinding Women of Africa
  6. 2026 and beyond —BoldSpaces and legacy
FROM MYBOLDSPACE / DEEP ROOTS AND STRONG WINGS
“Rántí ọ̀la — remember tomorrow.”

The inheritance her parents left her.

Source

Dr Lola Dare · Deep Roots and Strong Wings (2026)

Two women smiling together in red blazers

What connects the chapters?

Across medicine, community life and public institutions, several questions recur: how people are heard, how evidence shapes decisions and how leadership can be shared beyond one person.

Health Systems & Care

Practice, policy, workforce and data come together to strengthen care.

Women’s Leadership

Voice, visibility and opportunity for women in public life.

Explore MyBoldSpace

Community Resilience

Locally led preparedness, mutual support and community-owned response.

Institution Building

Structures and governance that allow good practice to continue.

Explore Footprints

The journey continues in what others can build.

A decision can have consequences long after the moment in which it was made. The people who carry it forward, and the institutions that support them, are part of this story.

Footprints examines those contributions and the records that allow others to question, learn from and build on them.

Continue to Footprints