Category: Health & Environment

sKan Wins 2017 International James Dyson Award

The Skin Cancer-Detecting Device (sKan), a low cost, non-invasive and handheld device has won the 2017 international James Dyson Award.

Invented by a team of four (a Nigerian and 3 Canadians) bioengineering undergraduates from Ontario’s McMaster University; Rotimi Fadiya, Michael Takla, Prateek Mathur and Shivad Bhavsar, the sKan is made from widely available and inexpensive components and can possibly make detection of the disease more accessible.

According to the World Health Organization, one in every three worldwide diagnosed cancer cases is a skin cancer.

James Dyson, founder of the Dyson company said the sKan received the award because it is “a very clever device with the potential to save lives around the world“. Since 2002, the James Dyson Award has been open to university or recent design graduates across the world and celebrates significant, practical and commercially viable designs.

To develop the device, the four graduates were awarded C$50,000 ($40,000; £30,000).  The device uses temperature sensors to help in the early detection of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer because cancerous cells have a higher metabolic rate than normal tissue cells. Cancerous tissue usually warms at a faster rate than non-cancerous tissue when the tissue skin is cooled.

The team plans to use the funds to build a new prototype that can be used in pre-clinical testing. Their ultimate goal is to select patients who should be sent for a biopsy because early detection is key for the treatment of melanoma.

Cornelius Adewale Wins 2017 Bullitt Foundation Environmental Prize

Cornelius Adewale has won the 2017 Bullitt Foundation Environmental Prize for his leadership role in developing an app and web tool that can measure a farm’s carbon footprint and help farmers reduce the impact of that footprint.

The 34-year-old Nigerian, who graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, is currently studying at the Washington State University, Pullman, where he is planning a phone app to help farmers grow more crops.

In 2011, Mr. Cornelius Adewale moved to Pullman with $6,000 in his pocket ― money he’d earned from the vegetable harvest at his farm in southwest Nigeria. Six years later, Adewale is a PhD candidate at WSU and a member of the board of directors of Washington’s Tilth Alliance.

Cornelius Adewale as winner of the 2017 Bullitt Foundation Environmental Prize is entitled to a $100,000.

Adewale plans to use the money to build a phone app that will help Nigerian farmers grow more crops, using fewer resources, with a lighter touch on the planet.

The app will be a portal to research and information about organic farming specific to Nigeria’s climate. And farmers will be able to measure the quantity of organic matter in their soil just by taking a picture of it, using their phones.

According to Denis Hayes, president and Chief Executive Officer of the Bullitt Foundation:

“Cornelius just had a magnetism and energy and charm that made him irresistible.

He came with rave recommendations from his professors, who believe he can be a transformational force in agriculture.”

For the past two years, Adewale has been working with a team of students at WSU to create a web-based tool that helps Washington farmers measure their carbon footprint, and gives them ideas for how they can reduce that footprint by adjusting the way they farm.

According to Lynne Carpenter-Boggs, an associate professor in WSU’s department of crop and soil sciences:

“The thing that is really unique and wonderful about Cornelius is his humility ― he really relates to everyone as individuals. He’s there to help, but in a way that’s about empowering the individuals, not telling people what to do … he truly is a natural leader.”

Cornelius Adewale found WSU’s organic agriculture major ― the first such major ever offered at a US university ― in an online search. He used the $6,000 from his harvest to launch his master’s degree.

When he got to Pullman and saw WSU’s organic farm, he burst out laughing. It was only 2 1/2 acres ― about half the size of his own farm in Nigeria. (WSU’s organic farm is now 30 acres.)

Still, he believed he’d come to the right place. Before his money ran out, he secured a research position at WSU to help fund his master’s degree and, later, his PhD.

Adewale thinks Nigerian farmers need more information about ways to use organic methods to build up their soil, making their farms more fertile and productive, without using chemicals.

In Washington, part of his graduate studies included helping develop the free web tool called Ofoot that Adewale wants to use as the base for his mobile phone app in Nigeria.

Covenant University Receives Global Health Bioinformatics Research Training Award [2017]

Covenant University emerge one of the awardees of the new Global Health Bioinformatics Research Training Program granted by Fogarty and the NIH Common Fund.

A component of the most recent round of NIH funding to support the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative, the awards will provide five years of support totaling up to $5 million for interdisciplinary training for bioinformatics scientists at a network of research sites across Africa. The training will help develop skills to lead integrative teams to solve significant global health problems in Africa that are important to Africans.

The H3Africa Initiative – a partnership between the Alliance for Accelerating Science in Africa (AESA) with support from Wellcome Trust, the African Society of Human Genetics, and the NIH – fosters genomic and epidemiological research in African scientific institutions. The Initiative provides opportunities for African scientists to lead research on genetic and environmental contributors to local health and disease issues. By training advanced bioinformatics and data science researchers on the continent, the Initiative will leverage genomics and other cutting-edge approaches.

Global Health Bioinformatics Research Training Awards

Dr. Isioma Okobah Receives 2017 Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physician Award

Dr. Mrs. Isioma Okobah, has received the 2017 prestigious fellow of the American Academy of Family Physician award. The award was conferred on Okobah at the 2017 convocation ceremony of the academy in Grand Hyatt, River Walk, San Antonio Texas, United States of America.

Continue reading Dr. Isioma Okobah Receives 2017 Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physician Award

Divine Godshelter Wins 2017 Vendy Cooking Competition Award

US-based Divine Godshelter, has been crowned the winner of a cooking competition at the 13th annual Vendy Awards ceremony which was held on the 16th of September in New York city.

The event is an Annual street food cook-off series showcasing the best street chefs in NYC, Philly, Los Angeles and beyond.
The winner, Divine is the owner and mastermind behind DF Nigerian Gourmet Food Truck and Divine Favored Catering Services.
He was hosted and specially recognized on the popular American show, Good Morning America.

Lagos State Opens First DNA Forensic Lab in Nigeria [2017]

The Lagos State Government has completed the construction of the first ever high-powered Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Forensic Laboratory in Nigeria. This has been announced by the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem.

The State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode had last year approved the construction of the DNA forensic lab as part of the criminal justice sector reforms designed to solve crime through technology and fulfill an unmet need for DNA profiling which is a unique forensic technique that is now being used all over the world.

Speaking at a press briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, Ikeja to announce activities lined up by the State Government to commemorate the 2017 United Nations International Day of Peace, Mr. Kazeem said skeletal work had already commenced in the lab known as the Lagos State DNA Forensics Centre (LSDFC), and that it would be formerly commissioned in coming weeks.
Kazeem, who was represented at the briefing by the State’s Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Mrs Funlola Odunlami said the lab, among other initiatives of the State Government, was part of efforts geared toward enhancing peace in the State.
“The DNA forensic centre just opened this month. We are yet to commission it but it has been opened and it is a DNA crime forensic lab and at the same time, it is going to deal with other DNA matters like paternity issue. What we are doing now is skeletal work which we started this month.”
Since 2007, the State Government through the Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC), an agency under the Ministry of Justice, commenced collaborations with the United Nations Information Office to mark the International Day of Peace as an annual event to propagate the ethos of peaceful co-existence among residents in the State, thereby educating and sensitizing the public on the need for peaceful co-existence and respect for human dignity to engender socio-economic growth.
According to Mr. Adeniji Kazeem [represented] on activities to mark the 2017 edition of the day tagged Together For Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity For All:
“The Lagos State Government recognizes the fact that the State is the commercial nerve centre of the sub-Saharan Africa where all races converge for various purposes such as business, hospitality, tourism among others, and has put in place mechanisms that will foster development and promote economic activities in the State by instituting agencies that will attend to matters relating to Land Grabbers, Special Task Force, donation of police vehicles for security, introduction of DNA Forensic laboratory to archive blood samples of criminals, among others.
All these actions are geared toward enhancing peace in Lagos State.”
Furthermore, Mr. Kazeem said on September 18, there would be a Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic on Ikorodu Road precisely from Funsho Williams Avenue through Ojuelegba to Yaba, while on September 19, a second Walk for Peace/Legal Clinic will hold at Jubilee Under-bridge in Ajah through Ibeju Lekki Expressway and back to the bridge. On the same day, Mr. Kazeem said the CMC will hold a Legal Clinic at both venues where free legal services and mediation services will be rendered to residents of the State, while on September 21, the 18th Stakeholders’ Conference and Book Launch will hold at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium in Alausa to mark the day.

Olakunle Akinboboye Emerge USA Cardiovascular Disease Board Chair [2017]

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has appointed Dr Olakunle Akinboboye, as the Chair of the Cardiovascular Disease Board.

Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye will be responsible for certifying all deserving cardiologists in the United States of America; carrying out periodic knowledge assessments of all practising cardiologists in the USA.

It is the first time that the 81-year-old body would appoint a black chair to head the cardiovascular disease board – a Board with 12 members from all over the country.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye said:

“[He is] proud to have the opportunity to chair this very important Board.

Unfortunately I am taking over the mantle of leadership at a point in time in which many cardiologists are openly revolting because of what they perceive as high handedness of the board over the years.

[My goal is] to work with other board members to come up with assessments for practicing cardiologists that are fair, and not unduly burdensome.”

Richard Baron, president and CEO of ABIM, welcomed the new chair on behalf of the Board:

“We are honored to have Dr. Berns, Dr. Akinboboye and Dr. Udden — three highly regarded physicians with significant clinical experience to serve the community in their disciplines and across specialties to offer more choice, relevance and convenience as they help to set the standards for excellent patient care.”

Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye’s Biography

Education

Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye received his medical degree from the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and later finished his internal medicine residency and part of his cardiology fellowship at the Nassau County Medical Center, State University of Stony Brook.

He has masters degrees in public health from Columbia University and business administration from Columbia Business School.

He completed his fellowship in cardiology with two years of dedicated training in nuclear cardiology and advanced echocardiography, when he moved to Columbia University.

Work

Certified in cardiovascular disease, hypertension and sleep medicine, this won’t be his first board appointment. Akinboboye serves as chair of the clinical trials committee of the organisation and also on the international board of governors of the American college of cardiology as the liaison for Africa.

He is an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, the medical director of Queens Heart Institute/Laurelton Heart specialist in Rosedale, Queens, New York and a past-president of the National Association of Black Cardiologists’ (ABC).

The doctor won an award for “exemplary professional services and outstanding contributions to cardiovascular medicine” while serving as president of the Ibadan College of Medicine alumni association, North America, between 2004-2005.