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“I have always been in love with animals. Of the seven children in my family I was always the one interested in taking care of our pets. Through this, I became familiar with the veterinary clinics in Kwara State, Nigeria, where I grew up. Professor Ojo was a veterinary scientist from my state. He enlightened me about the profession and I chose to go to his alma mater in northern Nigeria. I became interested in research into diseases that owners of animals can contract from them. After a two year fellowship in Germany, I decided to come to the then newly formed Veterinary School in UWI St. Augustine and I have not left since. Being a young school and the only one of its kind in the Caribbean, there are many opportunities here that I do not want to miss.”

Professor Abiodun Adesiyun

PROFESSOR OF VETERINARY PUBLIC HEALTH AND
DIRECTOR, SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
FACULTY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
ST. AUGUSTINE CAMPUS, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Tel: (868) 645-4481 • Email: Abiodun.Adesiyun@sta.uwi.edu

PROFILE

Professor Abiodun Adesiyun received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Ahmadu Bello University, in Nigeria. He went on the University of Minnesota in the US, where he completed his Master of Public Health and PhD degrees. He also served as Research Fellow at the University of Bonn, Germany. Professor Adesiyun was appointed Senior Lecturer at The University of the West Indies in 1990. He was promoted to the rank of Reader in 1997 and received Professorial appointment in 1999. In the Faculty of Medical Sciences, he served as Associate Dean for Research, Deputy Dean, Basic Health Sciences and acting Dean on several occasions and has held the position of Director, School of Veterinary Medicine since November 2006. Professor Adesiyun has received several awards including the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Germany) in 1989-1990, Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in the area of Research for 1999, Dean’s Award for Research in 1999 and again in 2002. He has also won numerous research grants as principal or co-investigator from local, regional and international sources worth over US$ 380,000.00.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Adesiyun’s research efforts focus on the epidemiology of bacterial zoonoses in humans and animals; food safety, with particular reference to bacterial pathogens and foods of animal origin; Brucellosis in cattle and water buffalo and assessment of the efficacy of the Brucella abortus RB51 vaccines; and epidemiology of leptospirosis in livestock, rodents and dogs, and development of an effective vaccine for use in dogs. Professor Adesiyun was the first researcher to report the existence of Yersinia enterocolitica in animals on the African continent and the first to report the production of enterotoxin(s) by Staphylococcus hyicus and the biological activity of cell-associated staphylococcal enterotoxins in cynomologus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). At The University of the West Indies, he established the enteropathogens significant as aetiologic agents of livestock diarrhoea, as well as the molecular relatedness of Salmonella enteritidis isolates across the Caribbean. He is also responsible for the characterization (phage types, toxigenicity, antibiograms) of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from livestock in Trinidad and Tobago. Professor Adesiyun has extensively investigated brucellosis in water buffalo and cattle in Trinidad and determined the efficacy of Brucella abortus RB51 vaccine in water buffalo. In addition, his research has revealed the serovars of Leptospira responsible for canine leptospirosis and he is currently developing a vaccine for use in the country.