Pharm. Joseph Oladele Ole is the deputy director, Pharmaceutical Services, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) Ilorin, Kwara State. An astute clinical pharmacist, who has led numerous studies on drug interaction and pharmacotherapy of hypertensive patients, he currently heads the Paediatrics Pharmacy Unit of UITH.
Ole’s initial quest to study Pharmacy did not materialise, as he was offered admission to study Chemistry at the Faculty of Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1991. He however achieved this goal two years later, when he was able to cross over to the pharmacy faculty and successfully graduated in 1998.
A diligent Ole had his internship at the UITH but was not mobilised for NYSC in 1999, as he got an exemption on grounds of age. Thereafter, he launched fully into his career as a superintendent pharmacist and worked at three different pharmacies – Fontana Chemist, Ijebu-Ode, 2000; Omeiza Pharmacy, Okene, Kogi State, 2001; and Christ-Joe Pharmacy, Kabba, Kogi State in 2004. In 2006, he was employed as a pharmacist at the UITH. He gradually rose through the ranks and became deputy director in 2020.
The passionate scientist, who doubles as a lecturer at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ilorin, has embarked on further studies to keep abreast of trends in practice. He bagged his Pharm.D in 2007, after enrolling for the conversion programme at the University of Benin. He returned to the same institution in 2011 for his Masters in Clinical Pharmacy and graduated in 2015.
His unquenchable quest for Clinical Pharmacy skills further took him to the United States in 2018, at the Nova Southern University. There, he had an unforgettable exposure to result-oriented patient care and also acquired invaluable skills in Clinical Pharmacy. He is currently studying for his PhD in Clinical Pharmacy at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
An innovative and result-oriented pharmacist, who aims at bringing Pharmacy practice to the front burner among healthcare practitioners, Ole has personally made some contributions to the practice in the institutions, where he has worked. He was able to birth the electronic inventory management at UITH in 2006. He also worked within available space and structures to introduce patient counselling and use of medication therapy management in pharmaceutical care of patients with chronic diseases.
Ole, a dedicated member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), has been actively involved in organised pharmacy activities. He has held different positions in the various arms of the PSN, right from his university days. He was president, PANS-ABU 1997; publicity secretary, ACPN, 2003 and 2004; assistant general secretary, PSN, Kogi State, and secretary PSN, Kogi State, same year.
He was also publicity secretary, Kwara PSN; secretary, Pharmacy Week Committee, 2011; and secretary, Local Organising Committee, PSN National Conference, Harmony 2013, Ilorin. He was also secretary, AHAPN, Kwara State from 2008 to 2011; and chairman of the same association since 2017. He is currently planning to host the AHAPN national conference in August 2021 in Ilorin.
Ole, an assistant to the Chaplain of the Chapel of Christ the Healer, UITH, is married to a pharmacist, a Fellow of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists, and they are blessed with three children.
