The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has appointed Dr (Mrs) Ukamaka Okafor, as an Associate Editor, of the FIP Pharmacy Education Journal.
While communicating the appointment to Okafor, which is first of its kind for a Nigerian pharmacist, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, Professor Ian Bates, stated that: “We received a high number of applications from colleagues across a range of domains and global regions, and each was considered carefully”.
It would be recalled that Okafor was the editor-in-chief of the African Pharmacist, a Newsletter of the African Pharmaceutical Forum, of the FIP from 2008 to 2012 and has consistently presented papers at the FIP congresses since 2005.
She won the second prize in the prestigious award of excellence in a research competition organised by the FIP Community Pharmacy Section in 2005.
Okafor is a regulatory and public health pharmacist, with over thirty years post qualification experience in public and private health sectors.
She has worked in various capacities at the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, as an expert in initiating, developing, coordinating and leading projects and quality assurance systems in addition to building and sustaining strong corporate relationships that have expanded and strengthened the activities and regulatory functions of the Council.
Prior to her recent appointment as the Director for the Lagos Zonal Office, she was the Director Education and Training of the Council for the past five years and also coordinates the Supply Chain and Logistics Project Management Unit of the Council.
A 1988 graduate of Pharmacy from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ukamaka holds a PhD in Public Health from Texila American University, MSc in Public Health (University of Lagos), MSc in Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Sciences(Purdue University), Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Pharmacy Advanced Training (Howard University) and Postgraduate Diploma in Health System Management(Galilee College).
She has received trainings in Supply Chain Management (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, African Resource Centre for Supply Chain Excellence, International Supply Chain Education Alliance, HELP Logistics/Kuehne Foundation, Commonwealth Pharmacists Association and United Nations Development Programme).
She is a certified researcher with the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative and African Malaria Network and a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists. Apart from her peer-reviewed publications, she has authored a book titled “Giving – A pathway to fulfilment”.
She is an awardee and grantee of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medical Practice Consortium/Independent Medical Education and GSK International, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), International Conference in Improved Use of Medicines, (ICIUM) and the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
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