The convener of the Southwest Nigeria Health Awards, Mr. Honey Olawale has disclosed that, the Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola was awarded alongside other awardees based on their contributions towards a sustainable and quality healthcare delivery in the Southwest region and Nigeria at large.

Pastor Honey made this known while speaking with CEOAFRICA at the event which took place at the Main Auditorium, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Phase 3, Ile-Ife, Osun State amidst other healthcare practitioners in Nigeria.

In his statement, he said “We have been doing this for years. It is just to encourage people that are really working, and people have not been recognising them because, maybe they are civil servants, or they don’t have money to pay to receive an award. We went to the nooks and crannies of the region to look for them”.

“We have people who are lazy and not serious with their work. By giving these awards today, we want to encourage productivity because they will continue to do more as they already know that people are watching them” he said.

Some of the awardees of the Southwest Nigeria Health Awards 2019 include the former governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the ‘Southwest Nigeria Pillar Health Award’; Vice Chancellor, Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola ‘Gold Award of Excellence on Quality Healthcare’; Principal, School of Nursing and Ministry OAUTHC, Ile-Ife, Dr. Aderonke Owosemo ‘Gold Award on Nursing Education Development’; Professor Michael O. Balogun ‘Outstanding Cardiologist of the year’; Mrs. Okpor Franca Nkechi ‘Outstanding Psychiatric Nurse of the year’;  Professor  Owolabi Alexandra, Outstanding Gynaecologist of the year; Renal Dialysis Centre, ‘Outstanding Dialysis Centre of the year’; Mopheth Pharmacy ‘Outstanding Pharmacy of the year’; Pharm. Abimbola B. Aminu ‘Outstanding Pharmacist of the year’; Mr. Idowu Afolabi ‘Outstanding Nurse of the year’ and Professor Grace T. Fadipe ‘Outstanding Dietician of the year’ among others.

What you need to know about Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola:

It is worthy to note that Prof. Babalola is an erudite Scientist professor whose research interest focused on drug analysis, PK/PD pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics, pharmaceutical analysis and bioethics.

She is notable for her research that produced a novel High-performance liquid chromatography Method for the analysis of quinine in biometrics. This outstanding research led to the elucidation of the pharmacokinetics of quinine in Africans and formed the basis of dose optimization in malaria patents.

She is one of the scientists that produced the first pharmacogenetic study in healthy and sickle cell patients in Nigeria and, has a received several grants, including the German Academic Exchange Service, World Bank and MacArthur Grant. In 2011, she won a $1 million MacArthur Foundation Grant.

Also, she is the Director, Centre for Drug Discovery, Development and Production (CDDDP) called centre of excellence at the University of Ibadan.

Prof Babalola has bagged so many awards which includes; award on academic excellent by Nigeria Association of Pharmacist in Academia (NAPA), the Association of Lady Pharmacists (ALPS) merit award, named among the 16 prominent Nigerian Women that excel in Science and Research, and so many others.

She is the first female Pharmacist in Nigeria to be inducted as Fellow of Academy of Science (FAS), Fellow, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (FPSN);  Fellow African Academy of Science (FAAS) (First Female Pharmacist FAAS in Africa and Second Nigerian woman as FAAS);  Fellow of West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (FPCPharm) and Fellow Nigerian Academy of Pharmacy (NAPharm) among others.

However, since she became a professor, she has 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.