Azziza (Kemi) Bankole, MBBS

Position Responsibilities

The Senior Advisor for Faculty Affairs is responsible for supporting a variety of administrative processes within the VTCSOM Office of Faculty Affairs.  These include appointment review procedures for deans and department chairs as well as engagement with prospective and new faculty members.

Professional Background

Dr. Bankole received her medical degree from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine in Nigeria. She interned there as well as Dorset County Hospital prior to a psychiatry residency at Hull and East Riding, Cottingham in East Yorkshire, both in the United Kingdom.

She then came to the United States for a psychiatry residency at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York and completed a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems, Zucker Hillside Hospital. During her fellowship she completed an Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) certification course at Zucker Hillside Hospital. She is board certified in both general psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry.

Dr. Bankole has worked as an attending geriatric psychiatrist in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Carilion Clinic Center for Healthy Aging since 2009. Her clinical practice includes ambulatory care, consultation services for long term care facilities in the Roanoke Valley, and ECT services.

Dr. Bankole was appointed assistant professor for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in 2010 and associate professor in 2016. She has been involved in medical education since her residency and is currently the program director for the geriatric psychiatry fellowship at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. Dr. Bankole has also served the medical school as a member of the community engagement working group, a member of the VTCSOM scholarship committee, and a department representative to the Virginia Tech Faculty Senate.

Dr. Bankole is a clinical researcher who has mentored medical students and residents. She has collaborated with researchers at FBRI, VT, UVA, George Washington University, and North Carolina A&T. She has received research funding from Carilion Clinic, the Alzheimer’s & Related Diseases Research Award Fund, and the National Science Foundation. Her research areas of interest include dementia, medical use of sensing technology, and ECT.

Honors and Awards

• Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association 2015
• Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association 2023
• Gold Humanism Honor Society 2025

Education and Training

• University of Ibadan College of Medicine, Nigeria, MD
• North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems, Zucker Hillside Hospital-Fellowship
• State University of New York Downstate Medical Center-Residency
• Hull and East Riding NHS Trust-Residency

Additional Positions

• Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
• Associate Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
• Associate Professor, Internal Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine
• Fellowship Director, Geriatric Psychiatry, Carilion Clinic
• Geriatric Psychiatrist, Carilion Clinic Center for Healthy Aging