I graduated from the school of pharmacy, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria and later obtained a master’s degree in clinical pharmacy at the University of Lagos, Nigeria in 2008. I also attended the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, where I had training in pharmacoepidemiology (the use of epidemiological methods to determine the effect of medicines in populations). I started working at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Lagos, Nigeria in 2003 as a pharmacist, and have since then risen through the ranks to become the Deputy Director of Pharmacy. I initiated a transition to a career in clinical research a few years ago by enrolling for a PhD in Clinical Pharmacy after over 18 years’ experience in clinical care of persons living with HIV. My research focus is HIV care continuum among young women in Sub-Saharan Africa and pharmaceutical care outcomes for persons with HIV in resource limited settings.
Program Experience:
I applied to and became a research trainee in the Emory- Nigeria D43 HIV Research in Women Training Program in November 2019. The mentored research training has been helpful in improving my skills in research methods, statistical analysis, presentation, and scientific writing. I am currently working on the use of biological samples such as hair and urine to measure adherence. Acceptability of hair donation had to be accessed before the actual sampling for hair to be tested for antiretroviral concentrations as a measure of adherence. The study found an acceptability rate of 65%, showing that it is feasible to obtain hair samples for biomedical research and adherence monitoring of ART, in the study setting. This work was published in AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses (https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/AID.2020.0214).
ORCID: 0000-0002-8219-8035
