We’re delighted to welcome Professor Iruka Okeke, a professor of pharmaceutical microbiology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, who will be presenting at our upcoming PSI seminar. Professor Okeke is known for her work in genomics and epidemiology, with a focus on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in developing countries. Her research explores antimicrobial resistance, bacterial genetics, and laboratory practices in Africa.
Join us for the seminar series on Wednesday 23 April, 13:30 until 14:30, in the Richard Doll Building lecture theatre. This will be followed by a networking session with tea, coffee and cakes provided.
Abstract
Intestinal and systemic infections caused by virulent Enterobacterales account for considerable morbidity and mortality across Africa. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has been slow to implement preventive interventions. It is therefore urgent to strengthen the evidence base for the need for WAter Sanitation and Hygiene improvements and enteric vaccines. We and others pushing for action have hypothesized that the epidemiological picture of enteric infections in southwestern Nigeria, and the population structure of implicated Enterobacterales mirrors those of other low- and middle-income country settings that are included in multicounty epidemiological studies. Our research is however revealing that, global lineages circulating within Nigeria, transmit along with locally prevalent clades, which were unknown to science or deemed uncommon. Additionally, several lineages presumed to ubiquitous are rarely recovered from Nigerian patients. And while most of our research is done within Ibadan, our work with Nigeria’s fledgling antimicrobial resistance surveillance system reveals that epidemiological snapshots from one location in Nigeria cannot be considered representative. In my talk, I will share case studies of enteric bacterial genomics that justify strengthening genomic surveillance in Nigeria and other parts of Africa and implementing preventive interventions to prevent the transmission of invasive Salmonella and diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli.
Biography
Professor Iruka N. Okeke is a professor of pharmaceutical microbiology and a Calestous Juma Science Leadership fellow at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Her research group uses microbiology, genetic, and genomic methods to investigate how bacteria colonise humans, cause disease, and develop drug resistance. Iruka is co-PI on the NIHR global health research unit on genomics and enabling data for surveillance of AMR, working with partners in Nigeria, The Philippines, Colombia and at Oxford to address national needs for building genomics into routine public health surveillance. She also studies laboratory practice in Africa.
A fellow of the Nigerian and African Academies of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology, Okeke was the 2023 recipient of the UK Microbiology Society’s Peter Wildy award and the 2024 American Society for Microbiology Moselio Schaechter Award in Recognition of a Developing-Country Microbiologist. She is the author or co-author of numerous scientific articles and book chapters, as well as the books Divining Without Seeds: The Case for Strengthening Laboratory Medicine in Africa and Genetics: Genes, Genomes and Evolution.
