Babalola Chinedum Peace

Babalola Chinedum Peace (née Anyabuike) FAS, FAAS is a Nigerian Professor of Pharmacy and first female Pharmacist Professor of the University of Ibadan. Her research interest focus on drug analysis, PK/PD pharmacogenetics, Pharmacogenomics, Pharmaceutical analysis and Bioethics. She is the Dean, faculty of Pharmacy and Principal Investigator of the University of Ibadan Centre for Drug discovery, development and production.^[1] She developed a novel High-performance liquid chromatography Method for the analysis of quinine in biometrics. This novel method quinine analysis led to the elucidation of the pharmacokinetics of quinine in Africans and formed the basis of dose optimization in malaria patents. Her feasibility studies on drug interactions and metabolism suggest a decrease in bioavailability and bacterial activity of certain antibiotics when combined with some anti-malaria drugs.^[2] She is one of the scientist that reported the first pharmacogenetic study in healthy and sickle cell patients in Nigerians with pro-guanil as a probe. The report suggested that some Nigerians are carriers of mutant CYP2C19 genes and poor drug metabolizer.^[3]

Background

Education

Professor Chinedum obtained a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm.) degree in 1983 from the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University and a Doctorate degree (Ph. D) in Pharmacology from the same University in 1997. She completed her pre-doctoral fellowship at the University of British Columbia.^[4]

Career

She joined the University of Ibadan as a senior lecturer in 1998, a year after she received her Ph. D. from Obafemi Awolowo University. She was formerly an academic staff at Obafemi Awolowo University before she was transferred to the University of Ibadan where she became a Professor and first female Pharmacist Professor on October 2006.^[5] She was two-term Head of Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry before her appointment as Dean of the faculty of Pharmacy and the first female substantive Dean of the faculty. prior to her appointment, she served as Director of General Studies for 5 years (2005 - 2010).^[6] Chinedum is a receiver of several fellowship awards. She is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the apex academic organization in Africa. She was inducted into the academy in 2013. In 2011, she was elected as fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science. She is the first female pharmacist in Nigeria to be elected into the academy and was inducted along with the Late Professor Babatunde Adetokunbo Sofoluwe, a professor of mathematics and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos and Muhammed K. Abubakar, a Professor of Biochemistry and former Federal Minister of Science and Technology.^[7] She is one of the fellows selected for African diaspora initiative. She was selected with Dr. Adeboye Adejare of the University of the Sciences in Pennsylvania to conduct a research on the interaction between compounds and small endogenous compounds that can serve as targets for drug action. She is the first Pharmacist to be appointed as a specialist adviser and consultant in a Nigerian hospital - University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. She is also an adjunct Professor In Institute of Advanced Medical Research and Training (IAMRAT) College of Medicine, UI where she collaborates with several oth er medical researchers within and outside Nigeria. She is a Co-PI on NIH-Fogarty grants with University of Chicago.^[8] She is a receiver of several grants, including the German Academic Exchange Service, World Bank and MacArthur Grant. In 2011, she won a $1 million MacArthur Foundation Grant to set up a Centre for Drug Discovery, Development and Production (CDDDP) called centre of excellence at the University of Ibadan.^[9]

Works

Since she became a Professor, she had supervised hundreds of undergraduate students and over 30 postgraduate students (PGD, MSC, M. Phil &PhD). She had published over 120 scholarly articles in reputable academic journal as well as books, books chapter, conference abstracts and monograph.^[10]

Selected scholarly articles

Below are selected peer-reviewed scholarly articles publications by Professor Chinedum.

• Babalola CP; et al. (2013). A Novel Derivatization Ultraviolet Spectrophotometric Method for the Determination of Dihydroartemisinin Using P-Nitroaniline’ Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research (in press)
• Ong CT; et al. (2005). Penetration, intracellular accumulation and efflux of tigecycline in human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 56:498-501.
• Babalola CP; et al. (2013) Toxicological Effect of SubTherapeutic, Therapeutic andOverdose regimens of Halofantrine Hydrochloride on Male Albino Rats. Pharmacologia 4 (3): 180-185, 2013
• Babalola, CP. ; et al. (2010). Cytochrome P450 CYP2C19 genotypes in sickle cell disease patients and normal controls. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 35:471-477
• Babalola CP; et al. (2009) Effect of fluconazole on the pharmacokinetics of halofantrine in healthy volunteers. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 34:677-682
• Maglio D et al. (2005). Pharmacodynamic profile of ertapenem against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli in a murine thigh model. Journal of Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 49(1):276-280.
• Babalola CP; et al. (2002). Effect of proguanil interaction on bioavailability of cloxacillin. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 27: 461-464
• Babalola CP; et al. (2004) Synergistic activity of vancomycin and teicoplanin alone and in combination with streptomycin against Enterococci faecalis with various vancomycin susceptibilities. International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents 23: 343-348
• Babalola CP; et al. (2004). Comparative bioavailability study of a new quinine suppository and oral quinine in healthy volunteers. Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research. 3(1): 291-297
• Babalola CP; et al. (2004) Adjunctive efficacy of G-CSF on treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia in neutropenic and non-neutropenic hosts. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy 53(6):1098-1100.

References