[3] She was a practicing physician in Nigeria[4] for fifteen years during which she worked for a time at the University College Hospital, Ibadan[5] and as the medical advisor for a multi-national company.
[6] A physician by training, Carrington decided to switch from curative to preventive medicine in order to more effectively deal with the public health problems facing the developing world.
Dr. Carrington delivered an oration summoning that year's graduates to make the problems of the developing world a high priority in their lives.
Recalling the injunction her father had given her during the Nigerian Civil War she called upon the audience of over 6000 people to “Defend the Defenseless.”[7] Carrington previously worked as an Associate Director of the Harvard School of Public Health's AIDS Prevention Initiative in Nigeria (APIN).
She was responsible for creating the conditions which led to this initiative being funded with a $25 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fight HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.