The Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) continued its 2025 LUTH Day celebrations with the Grand Round Lecture, the fourth event in the commemorative series, featuring a keynote address by Professor Donna Chioma Umesi, FWACS, FICD, Professor of Restorative and Conservation Dentistry.

Delivering her lecture titled “Advancing Healthcare Excellence: Innovation, Empathy, and Resilience,” Professor Umesi emphasized that the journey toward healthcare excellence is sustained through the synergy of these three forces.
She explained that innovation must be structured and purposeful; empathy remains the heart of healthcare; and resilience provides the strength to sustain quality service amid challenges.

“The true power of these three elements lies in their synergy,” she noted. “Innovation without empathy risks creating technologically advanced but cold and inaccessible care. Empathy without resilience leads to compassionate but burnt-out providers who cannot sustain their practices. Resilience without innovation results in systems that are robust but stagnant, unable to evolve with new challenges.
She further highlighted LUTH’s strides in innovation through improved scheduling systems, digital payments, electronic medical records, and the hospital’s adoption of solar power as evidence of the institution’s commitment to sustainable excellence.

In her conclusion, Professor Umesi stated that “innovation is the heartbeat of progress — it transforms yesterday’s impossibilities into today’s breakthroughs. When empathy guides our decisions, we build trust, and trust is the foundation of healing.”
Referring to LUTH’s motto, “We care, but God heals,” she called on all staff to continually reimagine the way they care, “through innovation empowered by empathy and grounded in resilience.”

She ended with a charge to all: “Let us all be champions of excellence — in our wards, clinics, and offices — so that together, we can deliver a healthcare system defined by innovation, compassion, and resilience.”
The Grand Round Lecture was attended by top consultants, resident doctors, nurses, students, and administrative staff. It inspired renewed commitment to advancing the standards of care, research, and training for which LUTH continues to be nationally and globally recognized.