Olufunsho is an Associate Professor and Consultant Toxicologist in the Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. He won Prof AFB Mabadeje’s prize as the best M.Sc Pharmacology graduating student in 2004; best University of Lagos PhD thesis award in 2009, best Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) Doctoral Thesis Award in Pharmacy (2009) and best University of Lagos researcher of the year in 2010. Olufunsho recently served as a Toxicologist with International Maritime Organization, London on Evaluation of Hazards of Harmful Substances carried by Ship. He has published over 90 research papers in reputable journals and attended several academic conferences in South Africa, United States, United Kingdom and Canada. He has supervised two (2) Ph.D candidates who worked on teratogenic potentials of some commonly used medicinal plants by pregnant women in Nigeria and Modulation of toxicities of antituberculous medicines. He’s currently mentoring 5 Ph.D scholars in the field of toxicology and also the current Editor-In-Chief of West African Journal of Pharmacy.
Dr Awodele is investigating the impact of oxidative stress in neurodegenerative disorders. There is geometric increase in the prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders in our environment. The aforementioned had been adduced to be due to environmental stress and genetic factors. However, our research group also hypothesized that oxidative stress and antioxidants expression may have significant role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. We had earlier investigated lipid peroxidation as probable mechanism of rifampicin toxicity in vivo (Annals of Neurosciences 19 (2):68-70) and also reported rifampicin induced meningeal congestion by induction of oxidative stress (Rev.Inst.Med.Trop.S.Paulo; 52(1):43-46)
Furthermore, we are also assessing the risk of birth defects associated with exposure to highly active anti-retroviral therapy during pregnancy in HIV positive patients attending LUTH. The standard treatment guideline of HIV positive pregnant women is the use of highly active anti-retroviral agents. However, fetuses are highly sensitive to most of the therapeutic agents used during pregnancy. Thus, this research intends to evaluate the impact/effect of the highly active anti-retroviral agents used by HIV positive women during pregnancy.