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The first female professor of Pharmacy at the University of Ibadan, Prof Chinedum Peace Babalola, has been appointed the new Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, a new private university in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Prof Babalola was the immediate past Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan and the current Principal Investigator of Centre for Drug Discovery, Development and Production(CDDDP), Faculty of Pharmacy , University of Ibadan.
She obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm.) degree in 1983 from the University of Ife, now ObafemiAwolowo University and a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the same University in 1997. She completed her pre-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia in 1995, and a PG Diploma in Industrial Pharmacy Advanced Training (IPAT) in 2012 jointly from Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy, Tanzania and Purdue University, USA.
The pharmacist rose through the ranks as a Graduate Assistant at OAU in 1985 to a Lecturer. In 1998, she was appointed a Senior Lecturer at University of Ibadan, became a Reader in 2003 and a Professor in 2006.She has served the Faculty and university in various capacities. She was the Director of General Studies Unit (GSP) UI (2005-2010) where she brought innovations currently being used for processing of POST-UME in University of Ibadan till date.She has served as Head of department (twice) and sub-dean in Faculty of Pharmacy.
Prof. Babalola has had an incredibly productive career. Her research has continuously helped to provide novel results contributing to important drug information by an African scientist. She has focused her research on pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD), pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacogenetics and bioethics as tools to study the disposition of several antimalarials, anti-infectives and other drugs in Nigerians as a guide to optimizing therapy in Blacks. Her research has revealed significant reduction in (40-90%) levels of antimicrobials by antimalarial in human calling for urgent dose regimen adjustment.The outcome of her research has revealed wide ethnic/racial in drug disposition and treatment outcome which further generated her interest in pharmacogenetic studies in African population.
Babalola is one of the scientists that reported the first pharmacogenetics study in healthy and sickle cell patients in Nigerians with proguanil as a probe. The report revealed that some Nigerians are carriers of mutant poor metabolizer genes CYP2C19, as well as marked differences between sickle cell patients and healthy population on this gene disposition.