News Releases

Professor Abiodun Adesiyun receives Emeritus title from The UWI

For Release Upon Receipt - December 14, 2017

UWI


Professor Adesiyun earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Ahmadu Bello University, in Nigeria, and his Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees from University of Minnesota in the US. He is the recipient of several awards including the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Germany) in 1989-1990, The UWI Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in the area of Research in 1999, and the 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.  He has supervised numerous graduate students (M.Phil. and Ph.D.) at The UWI.

Professor Adesiyun’s research covered 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.

He 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 UWI, 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 was also responsible for the characterisation of Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from livestock in Trinidad and Tobago. Professor Adesiyun extensively investigated brucellosis in water buffalo and cattle in Trinidad and determined the efficacy of the Brucella abortus RB51 vaccine in water buffalo. His research also revealed the serovars of Leptospira responsible for canine leptospirosis and he worked on developing a vaccine for use in the country.

 

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About The UWI

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 40,000 students. Today, The UWI is the largest, most longstanding higher education provider in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. The UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation. Website: www.uwi.edu

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

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