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h2 class="titleGrayBold20">SOT Members, Key Participants in Drug Development Conference in Africa
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José Manautou and Chudy Nduaka (3rd & 4th from the left) are pictured with 5 interns from 4 different countries |
The Africa Education Initiative (NEF), a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science and research in Africa, recently organized its bi-annual Conference on Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery and Development in Nigeria, West Africa. The meeting was supported in part by a grant from SOT. This is the second time SOT partnered with this organization to support student programs in toxicological sciences. A considerable component of the scientific program consisted of seminars on toxicology.
The conference was held at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Vom, Plateau State, a premier institution known for its vaccine research and production.
NEF President, SOT Member Chudy Nduaka, told conference participants in his welcome address that training students in Africa in different scientific disciplines, including toxicology, will enable African nations to build a sustainable global economy. During the conference, NEF and NVRI launched the Toxicology Internship Program, in which students from four African countries were awarded grants to train in the science of toxicology. The three-month toxicology internship will teach students how to plan, direct, and run toxicology studies. The student interns are expected to submit an abstract of their work at the end of their training. Former NEF interns have attended past SOT conferences where they have presented their work.
Past SOT Councilor José Manautou gave two platform presentations on drug hepatotoxicity and the function of hepatobiliary transporters in drug toxicity. Another SOT member, John Tor-Agbidye (Past President African Society for Toxicological Sciences) gave a platform presentation on the African continent readiness for clinical trials. Dr. Nduaka presented a check of N2 million Naira (approximately 14,000 USD) to NVRI Executive Director L. Lombin, for laptop computers and textbooks for the Institute to help in the training of students. Other sponsors of the conference and toxicology internship program included the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Lhasa UK, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Abbott Laboratories, Leyden group, and Jon Popke (SOT Member).
Additional information on the conference and other activities of the foundation is available on the African Education Initiative (NEF) Web site.
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