“My passion for neuroscience stems from the growing need to discover safer and more effective drug therapies for brain diseases.” – Osagie A. Emokpae

Osagie earned a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from Igbinedion University Okada (IUO) in 2014, graduating with a distinction in pharmacology and toxicology. Following a mandatory one-year pharmacy internship and his national youth service corps, he proceeded to the University of Ibadan (UI) for postgraduate training in pharmacology and therapeutics- with a focus on neuropsychopharmacology.

He later completed his master’s degree (MS) and was awarded the prestigious Dr. Yetunde Olabisi Taiwo Memorial Prize for being the best graduating MS student in pharmacology, at the College of Medicine, UI. His MS thesis was centered on testing a glutathione precursor compound in preclinical animal models of stress and Alzheimer’s disease, with findings published in 2 reputable journals.

As a result of his passion for neuroscience research, he collaborated on some other projects exploring the development of phytomedicinal compounds with anti-psychotic properties. He has gone on to author several publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals, with currently over 190 citations on google scholar.

Osagie was appointed as a pharmacist at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), where he primarily worked in the emergency unit and out-patient pharmacy clinics. During his tenure at UBTH, he directly mentored and supervised over 15 intern pharmacists guiding them through case-based clinical presentations that looked at the rational use of medicines for the management of psychiatric illnesses, chronic metabolic diseases and age-related dementias.

Additionally, he served as preceptor for final year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) students from the University of Benin (UNIBEN), during their clinical rotations. In 2021, Osagie became the first IUO-trained pharmacist and alumnus to lecture in the Professor Dora Akunyili College of Pharmacy, IUO; wherein he was appointed by the vice chancellor as an adjunct lecturer in the department of pharmacology and toxicology. The following year, in 2022, he was appointed as an associate lecturer in the Faculty of Pharmacy, UNIBEN.

While establishing himself as a research pharmacist, he was an active member of the Young Pharmacist Group of Nigeria- where he eventually delivered a lecture on the psychopharmacological management of stress. Further, in commemoration with the United Nations Day against drug abuse, Osagie was invited as one of the guest speakers by prominent stakeholders of the Edo state ministry of health and the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Edo state chapter to give a public health talk on “addressing substance abuse and misuse challenges in the Nigerian health care system”.

In recognition of his contributions to the pharmacy profession and for his commitment in driving drug discovery research for brain diseases, he was honored with a professional merit award by the PSN Edo state chapter in 2023.

Fueled by his relentless pursuit of knowledge, Osagie was awarded a full scholarship in 2022 to pursue a doctorate in neurobiology in the United States. Again, motivated by the absence of curative treatments for brain disorders, he is now part of a team of American scientists investigating novel molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration. His research utilizes genetic tools and the nematode worm C. elegans as a model organism to gain deeper insights into neurodegenerative processes.

The overarching goal of his research is to identify new drug targets that could facilitate the development of safer and more effective treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. He is a member of several distinguished scientific organizations, including the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, the West African Society for Pharmacology, the International Brain Research Organization, the International Society for Neurochemistry, and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.