Clinician scientist receives NIH award to study interaction of mental health, HIV medication in Nigeria

Waheed Adedeji, a clinician and scientist at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, has received an Emerging Global Leader Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate the influence of antidepressants on HIV medication among patients in Nigeria.

Adedeji, also a scholar at the UB Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS), will receive mentorship and training through CIGBS as well.

Provided by the NIH Fogarty International Center, the Emerging Global Leader Award aims to support the career development of early career health scientists in low- and middle-income countries.

“Dr. Adedeji is a highly motivated young physician-scientist with great potential to become an independently funded clinical investigator in HIV clinical pharmacology and pharmacogenomics, as well as a national research leader in Nigeria,” says Gene Morse, CIGBS director and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy Practice, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Adedeji — a lecturer in pharmacology at the University of Ibadan and a consultant physician and clinical pharmacologist at the University College Hospital, Ibadan — has more than a decade of clinical experience in internal medicine and infectious diseases, including malaria and HIV/AIDS.

His study will explore the influence of fluoxetine, an antidepressant, on the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of the HIV drug dolutegravir among HIV-positive adults with depression in Nigeria, which has the second highest rate of HIV infection in the world, according to Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). During the award period, he will complete advanced training at CIGBS in study design, conduct and monitoring, management of clinical trials, statistical methods and modeling.

CIGBS is an international hub for addressing global health challenges through pharmacological education and research. The program has an extensive history of providing training to scientists through partnerships with universities around the world. In 2017, Adedeji completed a postdoctoral fellowship at CIGBS under the mentorship of Morse, along with Qing Ma, associate professor in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Fatai A. Fehintola, professor and chair of pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of Ibadan.

“I am so proud of the work done by Dr. Morse and his colleagues and trainees in the CIGBS. It is an excellent example of the global impact that great public research universities can have, especially in regions with profound need,” says Gary M. Pollack, dean of the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Adedeji received a master’s degree in pharmacology and a master of public health degree, both from the University of Ibadan. He earned a bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery degree from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology in Nigeria.