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DEAN, STUDENT AFFAIRS, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA
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BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
Pharm. (Prof) Omeje Edwin Ogechukwu, born on February 14, 1973, was employed in October 2005 and rose to his current rank of Professor on October 01, 2017 in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry of the University of Nigeria. Prior to this academic appointment, Prof. Omeje has successfully practiced the Pharmacy Profession in all its aspects with track record of excellent administrative skill, having been Pupil Pharmacist (Intern Pharmacist) at his current base Department in the University (1999-2000), served as Corper Pharmacist in two different Government Hospitals in Abuja Nigeria (2000-2001), was a Community Pharmacist with two notable Pharmacies in Abuja Nigeria (Progandy (now Tonia) and Ja’cane Pharmacies.
He worked as Superintendent Pharmacist/Production/Sales Manager to Ceno Pharmacy Manufacturing group, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State (2001-2003), worked as Hospital Pharmacist/Pharmaceutical Analyst at the Federal Medical Centre (Now Federal Teaching Hospital), Abakaliki, Ebonyi State (2004-2005). In all these areas of service, the verifiable records show that he displayed true professionalism, honesty and dedication.
Professor Omeje started early in life to exhibit traits of brilliance and academic excellence. In 1983, he obtained the first school leaving certificate (FSLC) with a credit level at Central School Onuiyi Nsukka and again graduated from St. Teresa’s College Nsukka in December 1989 with 16 aggregate in 6 best subjects including sciences and arts. He obtained the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) with Distinction in Medicinal Chemistry in 1998; Masters of Pharmacy (M. Pharm; Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry with a CGPA of 4.52 out of 5.00) in 2003; Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D; Medicinal Chemistry with a distinction score of 86.5 %) in 2010 with thrust in Natural Product Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Analysis. He won the Vice-Chancellor’s Postgraduate prize following the outstanding research performance during his PhD programme.
Prof. Omeje was a CV-Raman Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2012 at the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, India. Prior to this and in 2007, he attended a fully sponsored international course on RNA and function at the Internation Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. In 2013, he won a research grant of five hundred thousand naira (N500, 000.00) from the National Association of Industrial Pharmacists (NAIP) during the National conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) held in Ilorin, Nigeria. Through this research grant and in collaboration, he has isolated and characterized two novel molecules with highly potent and selective activities against multi-drug resistant strain of tuberculosis. These exciting finding are currently protected under the Nigerian Patent Law. He equally won a TEPB-B research grant with which he executed part of his Doctoral research work. Similarly, in 2009, he won an NIPRD (FGN)-NIH (USA) research grant for three Nigerian doctoral students which held in Abuja. Through this award, he established very strong collaborations with renowned natural product chemists like Prof Dr Koji Nakanishi, Prof Akira Kawamura of CUNY, Prof Dr Mark Hamann of the University of Mississippi, USA and an accomplished Medicinal Chemist, Prof Dr Vincent Njar of University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA
Furthermore, he was a TWAS-DFG Visiting Scholar Fellow at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology and Biotechnology, Heinerich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany in 2015 where again he isolated over forty (40) compounds from the Nigerian Mistletoe. Four German Professors collaborated with him in advancing research works with some of these bioactive molecules. The research outputs have been outstanding with a patent and major publications in highly rated journals. In 2016, he was awarded another post-doctoral training at the prestigious ICCBS, Pakistan under the TWAS-ICCBS programme with the renowned natural product chemist, Prof Dr. Iqbal Choudhary as host.
Professor Omeje is a highly cerebral scholar and prolific in publications. Despite his deep commitment to highly demanding administrative duties, he has over 70 publications with over 70 % of them in high impacting journals in addition to one (1) patent. He has published two (2) book chapters and strongly desires to publish a highly quality book on Natural Product Chemistry for the Tropics. In addition, he has more than 19 conference papers to his credit with one of his presentations winning a grant at the Society for Medicinal Plant (GA) conference held in Berlin Germany in 2010.
Based on his research interests (drug lead discovery and development; Pharmaceutical Analysis and Biotechnology), he has got efficient research skills in Natural Product Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry (Isolation, characterization and bioassay of biologically active compounds of plants and animal origins, ethnopharmacological studies involving the testing of crude or partially purified fractions of plant or animal materials); excellent skills in Chromatography including sephadex columns, LC-MS, Semi-Prep HPLC, Instrumentation skills in HPLC, Mass Spectrometry, NMR, spectral software (Chemdraw, topspin, Mestrenonova) etc; Pharmaceutical analysis (quality control and assurance) of pharmaceutical substances and preparations, food substances etc.; Molecular biology techniques (cell culture based assays/High throughput System (HTS), protein filing, electrophoresis, RNA isolation, cDNA synthesis/ Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, cytotoxicity/proliferation studies, mechanistic studies of diseases of man, evaluation of potential drug candidate from conception to market etc. Prof Omeje is multitalented and versatile in skill. He has excellent abilities in sound policy development, implementation and monitoring. Professor Omeje is a true servant leader with uncommon passion for the welfare of others.
In terms of collaboration, he has worked intensively with Professor Akira Kawamura of CUNNY, USA, Professor Dr. Peter Proksch of Institute of Pharmaceutical Biology and Biotechnology, Heinerich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany; Dr Naibedya Chattopadhyay of CDRI, Professor Mark Hamann of the University of Mississippi amongst numerous others. Currently, he has over seventy (70) published articles in highly rated Journals to his credit. In addition, he has many academic awards to his credit amongst which are: The Vice-Chancellor First Prize for postgraduate studies and the Step-B Innovators of Tomorrow (IOT) Award. He is the leader of two (2) research groups here in the University of Nigeria.
Professor Omeje is a distinguished scholar and an astute administrator having served in many capacities till date. He was appointed Pharmacist preceptor to pupil Pharmacist in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences between 2007 and 2010. He actively served several Heads of Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, especially Prof C. J Mbah. He was appointed the Departmental Examination Officer and later the Faculty Examination Officer, a position he held till 2016 when he elected the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences with following a strong recommendation from the Dean, Prof Emmanuel Ibezim.
In 2017, after his sabbatical leave at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Delta State University (DELSU) Abraka, where he served as the Acting HOD of the Department of Pharmaceutical & Medicinal Chemistry, he was appointed the Associate Dean of Student Affairs by the 14th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Professor Benjamin C. Ozumba. It is pertinent to mention that, following his meritorious service as the Acting HOD in Faculty of Pharmacy, DELSU Abraka, the University Management and Senate gave hum a strong commendation letter. In August of 2019, the first alumnus and 15th Vice-Chancellor, Professor Charles Arizechukwu Igwe (FAS) appointed him the Dean of Students, a position he has dedicatedly served in till date. He has served and still serving in different committees of the University including strategic Senate Committees and other administrative committees. His passion for the true restoration of the dignity of man in the University of Nigeria and overall advancement of the course of this great University is addictively phenomenal. Professor Omeje after his announcement as professor in 2019 (w.e.f 2017) has been serving as both PCN and NUC accreditation panels member to several Faculties/schools/colleges of Pharmacy across universities in Nigeria. In the last visit, he was the team lead to the College of Pharmacy, Afe Babalola University, Ekiti State.
Furthermore, he served as a board member of Enugu State pilgrim Board, a position that afforded him the opportunity to travel to Isarel for three consecutive times. He has equally served in different capacities as a committed Christian for the Diocese of Nsukka, Anglican Communion. He is a committed community leader and the current Secretary of Ibagwa-Ani Development Initiative (IDI), a group selflessly committed to the overall development of peace in Ibagwa-Ani Community.
Pharm. (Professor.) Omeje is a committed Christian/Evangelist and happily married to a virtuous woman, Mrs Confidence Omeje and the marriage is blessed with children, Chimdindu, Chukwudumebi, Chukwukamso and Udochukwu.
Prof. Edwin Ogechukwu Omeje.
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