Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Ogunsola OON, FAS, has advocated the need for experts in the Clinical Sciences to look beyond the alluring offers abroad and focus on gaining more grounds with a view to addressing the critical health needs of Nigerians and Africa at large.
She gave the charge at the opening session of the 18th Annual Scientific Conference and Gathering of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, held on Tuesday, July 25, 3032 at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.
The event saw Prof. Ogunsola emphasizing the indispensability of Nigerian health professionals in the wholesome task of mobilizing their colleagues across Africa to conduct collaborative researches which would help to solve pressing health challenges across the world.
She challenged all attendees at the conference to look inward, gird their loins and put efforts into conducting and publishing ground-breaking research findings which will in turn, transform local journals into purveyors of contemporary research data for Nigeria and Africa.
Prof. Ogunsola particularly applauded members of the faculty for their commitment to research, teaching and community service being their core mandates and charged them to do more in the mentoring of junior faculty members.
The ceremony featured a special lecture titled “A sick Eye in the Body: Multidisciplinary Team as a Research Tool” delivered by the Head of Glaucoma Services, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Professor Adeola Onakoya.
The Guest lecturer spoke on the formative process, parts, various ailments that could affect the eyes, its contributory factors and the indispensability of the eyes in living a normal life.
The 1984 Alumnae of the UNILAG College of Medicine established the connection between the eyes and other vital organs in the body especially the brain, the heart and the kidney. She identified the eyeballs as a window through which changes in other vital organs can be directly detected.
The Professor of Ophthalmology also highlighted similarities in the pathogenic mechanisms of the eyes, the brain, the heart and the kidney hence her advocacy for collaborations and multidisciplinary approach in clinical care and research.
There were remarks and goodwill messages by the Provost of the College of Medicine, Professor David Oke and the Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences, Professor Folasade Akinsola. They both adjudged the conference a mark of collective efforts, resilience, doggedness and commitment to the expansion of knowledge as well as breaking of new grounds in clinical research.
The gathering, according to both the Provost and the Dean, also affords researchers a platform for prompt dissemination of research findings.
The Keynote speaker, Professor Dion Morton of the University of Birmingham spoke glowingly about the research collaborations with the University of Lagos, describing it as a milestone which the University of Birmingham would remain committed to.
The 18th Annual Scientific Conference and Gathering of the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Lagos holding with the theme, “The Impact of Collaboration on Clinical Research” continues on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 at the Old Great Hall of the College of Medicine, Idi Araba, Lagos.
