Professor Oni Idigbe is a Medical Microbiologist by training and is the immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos (2000-2008). He joined the Institute in 1980 after obtaining his Ph.D from the University of Glassgow in 1979. He currently works in the Institute as the Coordinator of Research Planning and Management and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University Chicago, USA. In course of the past 35 years of active research and academic career, Professor Idigbe has contributed significantly to the development of human and infrastructural capacities for health research and health care delivery in Nigeria. Significant amongst these are the establishment of the National Reference laboratory for HIV/AIDS and a BSL3 Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis in the country. His main areas of Research Interests are HIV/AIDS, Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR/XDR), Pertussis (Whooping Cough) Oral health and Laboratory quality Systems.

He has served as a lecturer of Medical Microbiology at the University of Glasgow and the University of Lagos. In early 2000's, he initiated the development of training modules on antiretroviral drugs. Using these modules, hundreds of various cadre of health care providers have been and are still being trained on the proper use of anti-retroviral drugs in Nigeria. In the early 1990s, he developed and established a database for HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. He further carried out a comparative study on the evaluation of the efficiency of branded versus generic antiretroviral drugs in the clinical management of HIV/AIDS.  Professor Idigbe served as a Co-Investigator of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Program in NIMR where over 20000 patients are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment. He also served as the Grants Administrator for some of the PEPFAR projects in six other sites in Nigeria.   Currently  he is the Chairman of the National Committee for Multi-Drug Resistant TB in Nigeria and helped in  establishing  structures for routine surveillance of MDR-TB in the country.

Professor Idigbe has served and still serving on the Executive Boards of several National and International health based organizations some of these include the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI), AID Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN), Human Development and Public Health Initiative (HUDPHI),  African Health International and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET).  He served as a member of the Advisory Board on Health Research and Development to the WHO Regional Director for Africa (WHO/AFRO) and serves on the Scientific Review committees of several national and International grant awarding organizations and scientific journals.

He is a recipient of over 25 research grants and has also won several National and International  awards including the NIMR 2009 best researcher's award, the IANPHI 2009 Distinguished Service Award and the ASLM 2012 Lifetime Achievement Honors Presently, he is the Coordinator of the IANPHI supported SLMTA Cohort 2 program for laboratory accreditation in Nigeria. The Principal Investigator for the on-going CDC supported study on resistance to 1st and 2nd Line antiretroviral drugs amongst patients on ART in Nigeria. He is also the Principal Investigator of the EDCTP grant for capacity development for clinical trials for HIV, TB and Malaria in Nigeria.

Professor Idigbe has contributed significantly to national and global scientific knowledge and presently has over 130 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals.