FFF columnist bags award

Dr. Olubukola Adenubi.

A columnist with FarmingFarmersFarms, Associate Professor and veterinarian, Dr. Olubukola Adenubi has received the prestigious Oba (Dr.) K.A.O Sansi Memorial Award of Excellence in Veterinary Research. The award is sponsored and intended to honour those who demonstrate excellence in original research, leadership in the scientific community, and exceptional mentoring of trainees and colleagues in any discipline of veterinary medicine in Ogun State.

Dr. Adenubi was presented with the award during this year’s World Veterinary Day (WVD) celebration, organised by the Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association, Ogun State Chapter. The theme for the WVD 2024 is, “Veterinarians Are Essential Health Workers”. The awardee is a multi-talented and astute researcher and consultant in small animal medicine and veterinary clinical pharmacology/toxicology specialty. She attended the reputable Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and graduated with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in the year 2000, as the best graduating student. She offered veterinary services in the private sector for four years before joining the services of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in 2005; an institution with the triple mandate of teaching, research and extension.

Dr. Olubukola Adenubi (Left), receiving the Oba (Dr.) K.A.O Sansi memorial award of excellence in veterinary research.

She obtained an MSc in Pharmacology from the University of Ibadan in 2009, and crowned her academic journey with a PhD in Paraclinical Sciences from the University of Pretoria, South Africa in 2017. She became a certified Fellow of the College of Veterinary Surgeons of Nigeria in January 2024. Dr. Adenubi’s research focuses on precursors of drug development from natural products such as plant and microbial species with the aim of management of economically-important disease vectors, including the parasitic and infectious disease pathogens of veterinary and medical importance. Her research considers local knowledge that had led to the discoveries of bioactive compounds capable of modulating metabolic pathways involved in many infectious and non-infectious diseases.

These findings have the capacity to tackle challenges of multidrug resistance; a global health challenge of enormous proportion. She is also an advocate of prudent use of medicaments, biological products, veterinary drugs, feeds and pesticides in animal husbandry. The Associate Professor has previously proposed the integration of efficacious and safe natural products and practices into orthodox medicine to improve the quality of life, particularly in many under-served and impoverished African states. Her research findings have been presented at several local and international conferences and received notable grants and awards including the highly competitive global L’Oreal-UNESCO Award for the top five female PhD students in Africa. She has significant number of research articles in reputable top flight publications with numerous citations, placing her as an authority in her field of research. The awardee is equally involved in leadership and administrative duties, special assignments and community engagements, having served as the pioneer Acting Head, Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, and currently the departmental undergraduate and postgraduate coordinators with other service and leadership positions in college committees and the university in general.

The award plaque.

Till date, she has served as external examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate students in three Nigerian universities. Dr. Adenubi was temporary adviser to the Vector Control Action Group, World Health Organisation (WHO), and advisory board member of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs. The don is a reviewer of reputable international journals while she regularly writes on various topical issues in several newspapers. In her community service role, she once provided empirical-based advisory on the Ebola virus and Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mitigation and control while her sojourn in different geopolitical regions of Nigeria and overseas had exposed her to people of different diversities, cultures, beliefs, technical know-how by helping her to work in small teams to achieve set objectives.