Professor Georgina Njideka Odaibo has been elected the Vice President (Africa) of the World Society for Virology (WSV). The WSV was established in 2017 with the overall mission of strengthening research on viruses affecting humans, animals, plants and other organisms. The WSV’s main objectives are to connect virologists worldwide, to provide educational resources, and to support a network of scientific collaboration among virologists, with a goal of helping members to advance their careers and to obtain funding, resources, and recognition for their achievements.
Georgina Odaibo is a Professor of Virology in the Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. She is a 3-term (2011-2014; 2018-2020; 2021-2023) Head of Department of Virology with almost 30 years of teaching and research experience. She is an accomplished and eminent academic and researcher, who has contributed significantly to the understanding of viral infections and implementation science in Nigeria and Africa.
She was a research Fellow of Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwepen, Belgium and a Post-Doctoral Visiting Scientist at the Biomedical Research Institute, Georg Speyer Haus, Germany where she acquired more knowledge about virus cloning and sequencing techniques. In addition, she trained on the prestigious Biomedical/Biobehavioral Research Administration and Development (BRAD) Program at NIH, USA.
Professor Georgina Odaibo has served and still serves as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator of several national and international research grants, including the NIH funded Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Nigeria (MEPIN) and the University of Ibadan MEPI Junior faculty research training; WHO funded multi-country research on Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) among under-five children; STRIPEN-HIV program (interprofessional education program) supported by Health Resources and Services Administration(HRSA), an agency of the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services through the University of California, San Francisco; in-country scientist for the Project on Vaccine Efficiency (PROVE) as well as the Pharmacovigilance projects in Nigeria, both funded by the MasterCard Foundation through Africa CDC and IDI Makerere/AFREhealth, just to mention a few.
Her research focus has been in the area of viral epidemiology, diagnostic virology and molecular virology. She has worked on many viruses of medical importance including, HIV, HBV, HCV, RSV, HPV, SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, arboviruses and others. She has noteworthy experience in various virological techniques including, Tissue culture, ELISA, Western immunoblotting, convectional and Real-time PCR, DNA sequencing, Genomics, Bioinformatics among others.
She was the Head of Department of Virology during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she and her team worked assiduously in the diagnosis, education of the populace and eventual control of the spread of the virus in the country. Through her work, she has strengthened laboratory capacity, improved diagnostic frameworks, and contributed to the global body of knowledge on infectious diseases. She has supervised 12 Ph.D. theses, over 35 M.Sc. dissertations in virology. She has mentored several young scientists, many of whom have success stories and are occupying very high positions of responsibility.
Professor Georgina Njideka Odaibo is widely recognized as the first female Professor of Virology at the University of Ibadan, and among the few that have broken the glass ceiling in a field historically dominated by men (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/virology/articles/10.3389/fviro.2022.1078953/full). Her academic journey reflects not only intellectual excellence but also resilience and commitment to scientific growth within Africa.
Her election as Vice President of the World Society for Virology is therefore a moment of profound pride for the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Africa, and the global scientific community. As Vice President for the African continent, she is responsible for the activities of the society within the continent. She is expected to initiate new partnerships with virology societies and government agencies and international organizations to promote the objectives of the society and support its growth in Africa. With her wealth of experience, divine enablement, and her proclivity for hard work, she is set to fulfill the mandate of her new office.
Prof. Georgina Odaibo’s election has not only brought honor to the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, it will act as a bridge that brings the world’s cutting-edge methodologies and trending research interests into our local laboratories and institutions.