UNILORIN alumna, Odum, wins $30,000 Google-sponsored AI contest
By Temitope Omoniyi
An alumna of the University of Ilorin, Jane Odum, has secured first place and a $30,000 prize in the prestigious Google-sponsored MedGemma Impact Challenge.
Odum, who is a graduate of Computer Science from the University, is currently a doctoral student at the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Her winning innovation, EpiCast, is a mobile-first Artificial Intelligence platform designed to revolutionise disease surveillance in low-resource environments.
The competition, which drew over 850 global entries, tasked developers with creating human-centered AI to solve complex healthcare hurdles. For Odum, the inspiration was deeply personal, rooted in her experiences from the Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks in Nigeria.
Drawing on the technical foundation she built during her days at UNILORIN, Odum specifically engineered EpiCast to overcome the infrastructure “bottlenecks” common in rural areas.
Unlike standard AI that requires a constant internet connection, EpiCast runs entirely offline on mobile devices. By optimising advanced medical language models to function without cloud computing, Odum reduced processing times from minutes to mere seconds.
With this victory, the University of Ilorin graduate joins the ranks of global innovators using technology to ensure that geography no longer dictates the quality of public health surveillance.
The feat has sparked celebration back at her alma mater. Prof. Rasheed Jimoh, the former Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences, who supervised Odum’s undergraduate project, expressed immense pride in her work and extended his congratulations.
In a chat with UNILORIN Bulletin last Wednesday (April 29, 2026), Prof. Jimoh, who currently serves as the Director of the Computer Services and Information Technology (COMSIT) Directorate, noted that Odum’s success reflects the commitment of the institution.
He stated that the University, under the leadership of Prof. Wahab Egbewole, is focused on “building a 21st-century institution through sustainable ICT integration and automation.”
