ABOUT THE SECOND PLENARY SPEAKER
Ebenezer Olatunde Farombi is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Toxicology, Fellow Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) UK, Fellow Nigerian Academy of Science (FAS), Fellow Academy of Toxicological Sciences (ATS) USA and Fellow African Academy of Sciences (FAAS). He holds Ph.D Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He was Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Liverpool, UK and visiting scientist at the Institute of Food Safety and Toxicology, Copenhagen, as well as Institute of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aarhus, Denmark. A former Dean, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Ibadan, he is currently the Chair of Department of Biochemistry and Director Molecular Drug Metabolism and Toxicology Research Laboratories in the same University and currently serves as Vice-President of the Society for Free Radical Research (SFRR)-Africa. He is presently the Editor in Chief of Toxicology Digest, the official journal of the West Africa Society of Toxicology (WASOT).
Professor Farombi’s research areas over the past 20 years have been on Molecular Toxicology, Cellular Oxidative Stress Mechanisms, Reproductive and Environmental Toxicology, Antioxidant Redox Biochemistry, Nutraceuticals as Prophylactic agents and Nutrigenomics as well as natural product Biotechnology. He is known nationally and internationally for his novel works on the elucidation of the Biochemical and Molecular Mechanisms of Chemoprevention of phytochemicals including Kolaviron, a natural antioxidant biflavonoid from the seed of Garcinia Kola (Bitter kola). His recent scientific reports have opened up new therapeutic window in progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. Worthy of note his scientific impact globally has been recognized. For instance in 2005, he was cited and listed among top 10 productive researchers in University of Ibadan who contributed research articles within a 10 year frame (1995-June 2005)- (SESRTCIC, http://sesrtcic.org/statisticstate) and ten years later, following the inaugural February 2015 Webometric Ranking of Nigerian scientists, he was Top-rated (Ranked Number 1 Nigerian Scientist) according to google scholar citations now with h-index of 39, i10-index of 101 and ~6,000 citations.
He has been Visiting Professor to Seoul National University, South Korea (2005-2006); Institute of Nutrition, Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Germany (2007), University of Chicago, USA (2010-2011), Jackson State University, USA (2009-date) Cape Peninsular University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa (2011), Indiana University, Bloomington, USA (2014) and China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing China (2015). He is a recipient of several International Fellowships and Grants including the 2012 IUTOX Fellowship and 2014 Society of Toxicology (USA) Global Senior Scholar Exchange Toxicology Fellowship.
A very effective, productive and innovative researcher, supervisor, mentor and a University teacher of about three decades, he has supervised over 100 BSc, 150 MSc and 24 PhD students in Biochemistry and Toxicology. He is the supervisor of the adjudged best PhD Thesis in the discipline of Basic Medical Sciences withing the Nigeria University system during 2009 assessment by NUC. Four of his former postgraduate students are now full Professor in various Universities in the country. Professor Farombi has recently edited a book titled “Nutritional Antioxidants in Cancer and Degenerative Diseases” with contributors from Nigeria, Cameroon, USA, Mauritius, South Africa, Japan and Denmark. He has published 210 scientific articles in reputable international journals, 14 chapters in books, and given over 100 invited lectures in countries spanning 4 continents of the world.