Azziza (Kemi) Bankole, MBBS

Position Responsibilities

The chief diversity officer is responsible programmatic efforts to improve and promote diversity across the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine community. This includes leading the identification and execution of best practices for the recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and students and coordinating activities that support the school’s strategic goals for inclusion and access. The chief diversity officer leads the development and implementation of policies and initiatives that contribute to building a diverse and equitable community that enriches students' education and enhances their ability to participate in a rapidly evolving, multicultural world.

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 served the medical school as a member of the InclusiveVTCSOM Task Force on 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 College of Psychiatry 2015

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

• 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