.jpg "Emmanuel O. Akala, IACUC Chair, Howard University photo")
Howard University
Washington, DC
Short Biography: Professor Emmanuel O. Akala
I have been on the faculty of Howard University College of Pharmacy for twenty-five years. I am a Professor of Pharmaceutics, Chair, of the Howard University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and Director, Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Drug Delivery, and Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Drug Products Design. My training is cosmopolitan. I am a pharmacist and an immunization pharmacist (registered in Utah, Maryland, Washington DC and Nigeria), a Pharmacy professor, and a research scientist with bias for conventional and novel drug delivery systems. I received B. Pharm. (Hons) degree and M.Sc. (Pharmaceutics) degree at The University of Ife (Now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, Nigeria and Ph.D. degree in Pharmaceutics at The University of Manchester, England (as a Commonwealth Scholar). I was a DAAD Fellow at the Institute of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Munster, Germany, and an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Pharmaceutics and Bioengineering at The University of Utah, USA.
I have established a very active research group with capability for the design and development of conventional and novel drug products/drug delivery systems. My research focus, at the moment, is on nanotechnology platform for the treatment of cancer and HIV/AIDS with the applications of quality by design (QbD), statistical experimental design, computer optimization, and process analytical technology in my research efforts. At Howard University, I have obtained more than eleven million dollars in research grants (specifically $11, 800,000:00). My recent research grant funding is as follows: (1) NIH/NCI (Akala (PI): Novel Nanotechnology Platform for Breast Cancer Treatment ($1,132,500:00) (2) NIH/NCI (Akala (PI): Multifunctional Nanotechnology Platform for Triple Negative Breast Cancer Treatment: $618,000). (3). NIH- 3U54MD007597-33S4 (Targeting Lymph Node and Spleen HIV Reservoirs for HIV Cure: $772,500). I hold three patents and one provisional patent. I have numerous research publications in peer-reviewed journals and several conference proceedings and abstracts. I have four book chapters in the areas of nanotechnology, drug formulation, development, and drug stability and packaging. Over the years, I have taught several Pharm. D. courses and have developed and taught several Ph.D. courses and mentored several Doctor of Pharmacy students. I have directed the research work of eight M.S. students, five Ph.D. students, eight postdoctoral fellows, several Pharm. D., B.S., and high school students and four pharmacy students from different Universities in Brazil (Brazil Scientific Mobility Program). My research endeavors have been characterized by wide interactions and associations (interdisciplinary approach to research) at Howard University and within USA and in Germany, UK and Demark.
I received the 2013 Distinguished Howard University College of Pharmacy Alumni Award, the 2013 Top Reviewer Award in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the 2013 Top Reviewer Award in the Journal of Nanomedicine, the 2014 AACR Minority-Serving Institution Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research Award, the 2016 Washington DC Pharmacy Association NASPA Excellence in Innovation Award. I have been serving as a member of the Advisory Group of the Center for Pharmaceutical Advancement and Training of the United States Pharmacopeia since 2013. I was appointed, in 2015, a member of the USP (United States Pharmacopeia) Expert Committee (the General Chapters-Dosage Forms USP’s Expert Committee). USP. Further I was appointed a member of the United States Pharmacopeia Council of Convention (CoC: 2020 – 2025 Cycle) and in 2022 a Member of the USP Dietary Supplements Sector of the USP Convention. On June 1, 2021, I was appointed a Member of the USP Health Equity Advisory Group. In 2023, I received the Presidential Medal of Achievement from the Howard University President:
Monday, December 4, 2023
2:15 PM – 3:15 PM ET