Hussaini, Cancer Researcher To Headline Pharmacy Academy’s Investiture

The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy will on September 28, induct six professionals into its esteemed ranks.

Professor Fola Tayo, Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Caleb University, who also doubles as General Secretary of the Academy, revealed this and said the event will also be headlined by a keynote presentation by Professor Isa Marte Hussaini.

Hussaini is a world-renowned cancer researcher and professor of pharmacology, whose work is particularly hallmarked by its focus on the use of local herbs in cancer therapy.

“Professor Hussaini’s work is a tribute to academic excellence and apart from informing society about the progress he has made so far, we also want to inspire the rest of the scientific community and keep the quest for research into problems that afflict mankind, on the front-burner,” Tayo said.

He noted that cancer is a chronic disease condition for which the scientific community is still grappling with the need to better understand in order to proffer more effective preventive, management and curative approaches.

According to the renowned don, the six eminent professionals who are billed to be inducted into the Academy have been painstakingly selected from a diverse pool of practice areas.

“Beyond the fact that they are distinguished in their various practice areas, each inductee possesses a mindset and disposition that align with the Academy’s mission and reason for being,” Tayo added.

The Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy is a specialised academy that among others, seeks to promote scientific research and professional development especially in the health, pharmaceutical and related sectors in order to help overcome challenges posed by pain and disease as well as fast-track social and economic development in Nigeria and beyond.

Last July, the Academy brought together, professionals drawn from the health sciences – medicine, pharmacy, nursing, medical laboratory sciences, physiotherapy and others – to brainstorm and proffer solutions on the subject of inter-professional collaboration, against the backdrop of the animosity and inter-professional rivalry that exists in Nigeria’s healthcare sector.

The Academy has also been active at jointly reviewing the training curriculum for pharmacists in order to enable the profession keep pace with global developments such that the professionals remain relevant to the needs and aspirations of patients and the larger society.

The Academy is the fifth such specialized academies in Nigeria, with others being the Academies of Science, Letters, Arts and Engineering respectively.