Nigerian health communication scholar, Abdulmalik Lawal, has graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, United States, with an impressive record of 10 major academic honours in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research, science communication, and public health scholarship.
Lawal completed a Master of Arts degree in Media Innovation with a specialisation in Health Communication and emerged as both the Outstanding Graduating Graduate Student and Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher of the Year.
According to details obtained on Monday, he also received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award from the Reynolds School of Journalism, making him one of the few students in the institution’s history to receive all three prestigious honours simultaneously.
The Nigerian scholar further distinguished himself by winning the Centre for Advanced Media Studies (CAMS) Thesis Award for his research on antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria.
His achievements also earned him the Rittenhouse and Hedges Journalism Scholarship for excellence in science communication, as well as the Overall Best Research Poster Presentation Award across multiple colleges within the university.
Reacting to the recognition, Lawal expressed gratitude and satisfaction with the accomplishments, noting that his work has always been driven by a desire to address real-world public health challenges.
“It is one thing to produce good research, but it is another to conduct research that directly addresses how people experience illness, make health decisions, and access support when they need it,” he said.
“Everything I have done has been focused on that goal.”
In addition to the university awards, Lawal was selected as an Investigative Reporters and Editors Fellow and received the National Association of Science Writers Award and Conference Fellowship for excellence in science communication.
He also secured a Graduate Student Association Travel Grant and was selected by the Hitchcock Project for Science Visualization to attend the 2024 National Association of Science Writers Annual Conference.
Throughout his academic programme, Lawal built a strong research portfolio spanning health communication, behavioural public health, science communication, and digital media.
His work included publishing peer-reviewed studies, presenting research at national and international conferences, and contributing to health message processing research conducted at an eye-tracking media laboratory.
He also participated in a state-funded opioid response communication project and collaborated on an international study involving James Madison University and the U.S. Department of State, examining healthcare stigma in Nigeria and South Africa.
Lawal said his research is guided by the belief that many public health challenges are not solely medical issues but are often linked to communication barriers shaped by social and economic realities.
“The communities I study are not difficult to reach because they do not care about their health,” he explained.
“They are difficult to reach because the systems intended to serve them were not designed with their realities in mind. My research is focused on changing that.”
Following his graduation, Lawal is expected to continue his academic journey at the doctoral level after securing admission into a leading university for advanced studies in communication and health behaviour.
Beyond academia, he serves as Co-founder and Director of the African Centre for Health and Crisis Communication, a non-profit organisation established in 2025 to tackle public health challenges through evidence-based communication, health education, and crisis response initiatives.
His research and professional work focus on understanding how social and environmental factors influence access to information, health decision-making, and behavioural outcomes, particularly among underserved and marginalised communities.
