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PAULESI Director

Professor Mubo Adeola Sonibare

Mubo Adeola Sonibare is a distinguished Professor of Pharmacognosy. She earned her first degree in Botany, from the prestigious University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1992. She subsequently obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the same University of Ibadan in 1996 and 2003, respectively. Professor Mubo Sonibare specializes in Biodiversity Conservation and Medicinal Plants Research, with expertise in plant tissue culture, standardisation, and molecular authentication of medicinal plants.

Professor Sonibare began her academic career in 1996 as an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Ogun State University (now known as Olabisi Onabanjo University), Ogun State, Nigeria. She joined the Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Ibadan, as Lecturer I in 2006 and advanced through the ranks to become a professor of Pharmacognosy in 2015. Prof. Sonibare has over twenty-nine (29) years of teaching and research experience at the university level, and has held several administrative positions and served on various committees at the University of Ibadan. These include the Postgraduate Coordinator, Department of Pharmacognosy (2006-2009); Coordinator, Department of Pharmacognosy (2011-2012); Acting Head of Department (2012-2014), Sub-Dean (Postgraduate), Faculty of Pharmacy (2014-2017). She was also a member of the Postgraduate School Board Business Committee (2014 to 2015), the Joint Council/Senate Committee on Naming of Buildings and Streets (2012 to 2013), the Plant Use and Conservation Research Ethics Committee (PUREC) from 2014 to the present, and a member of the University Senate from 2008 till date. Additionally, she served as the Head of the Department of Pharmacognosy and the Programme Coordinator for PAULESI's Master of Science in Medicinal Plants Research and Drug Development from 2020 to 2024.

Prof Sonibare delivered the University of Ibadan 497th Professorial Inaugural Lecture on July 29, 2021, titled “Quest for Sustainable Health Care Provision: Utilisation and Misutilisation of Our Co-Tenants”, where she advocated for the cultivation and conservation of medicinal plants in the provision of healthcare. Professor Sonibare has received numerous Fellowships including a Research Fellowship at Koishikawa Botanic Gardens, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Japan (2002), Georg Forster Research fellowship by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2008-2009), University of Ibadan Senate Research Grant, TWAS-UNESCO Associate to University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana, Georg Forster Research fellowship further research stay at Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, Institution Based Research (IBR) TETFUND Grant, Research Group Linkage Programme award by AvH, Germany, DIES International Deans Course award, Germany. She is an active member of many academic and professional bodies, including the Nigerian Society of Pharmacognosy, Botanical Society of Nigeria, American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT), Science Association of Nigeria, Academic Society of Functional Foods and Bioactive Compounds. She has served in various leadership capacities, such as the Assistant General Secretary of the Nigerian Society of Pharmacognosy (NSP) and Vice Coordinator of the University of Ibadan branch of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD). Currently, she serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Journal of Natural Products and Medicine.

Prof. Sonibare is a reviewer of several local and international journals and has served as an external examiner and assessor at the Professorial level for various universities within and outside Nigeria. She has supervised numerous undergraduate and M.Sc. projects, and has successfully supervised ten PhD students. Professor Sonibare has made significant contributions to her field, having over 140 articles published in both local and international peer-reviewed journals. She is happily married to Oluwadayo Olatunde Sonibare, a distinguished professor of Organic Geochemistry and the marriage is blessed with three wonderful children.

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