TITLE: DR.

NAME: JOY ODIMEGWU

POSITION: SENIOR LECTURER                                         SPECIALISATION: PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND                                                                                                                                                 NANOMEDICINE

EDUCATION/TRAINING

Personal Statement

 “I am a herbal medicine conservation and development Expert. Currently, I merge ancestral herbal remedies with modern technology through polymeric nanoparticles drug formulations loaded with Cytotoxic natural products from plants which are effective against cancers. I do botanical drugs bio-prospecting for Pharmaceutical Leads for cancers and pain. I work on biological drug discovery for solutions to drug resistance and metastases in cancer therapy.

I am a product owner of the Start-up; Gaudium Natural Health Limited initiated from my solution-oriented research and have two main products; CITRUTOX^®an all-natural hand and surface sanitizer and PAINOMO^® Essential oils infused painkiller for moderate to severe muscular and joint pains.”

Positions, Scientific Appointments, and Honours\ 

• Chairperson, Herbal Medicine Annual Symposium of Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Lagos, Nigeria. 2021
• Head of Herbarium Committee, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos. Nigeria 2015- 2020
• Department of Pharmacognosy Model Herbal Clinic Coordinator, University of Lagos. Nigeria 2011-2016
• Examination Officer, Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy. University of Lagos 2015-2023
• Steering Committee member, Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research for Development 2015- 2020.
• Member of Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos Time table and student results collation committee 2013-2015
• Fellow: African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) fellowship from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
• PhD Fellow: Organization of Women in Science in the Developing World (OWSD)
• Postdoctoral Fellow: TWAS-UNESCO ASSOCIATESHIP at the College of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• Early Careers Researcher Training Grant Awardee: Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
• Mentor: New York Academy of Science (NYAS) 1000 Girls 1000 Futures Mentoring Program
• Mentor: West African Virus Epidemiology (WAVE) for Food Security Program.

Selected Most Recent Publications /Contributions to Knowledge 

• Odimegwu Joy (Apr. 2024). PAIN KILLER PLANTS. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D2P4DWDW
• Odimegwu Joy Ifunanya (2020). FOODS AND HORMONES: Phytoestrogens in Edible Plants and Human Reproductive Health. https://amazon.com/Foods-Hormones-Phytoestrogens-Reproductive-Health- ebook/dp/B084RXL5NX.
• Rajeev K. Singla…..Odimegwu, Joy Ifunanya et al., (2025). Exploring Nutritional Supplement Use for Countering Respiratory Tract Infections Through an X (formerly Twitter)-Based Survey. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbiot.2025.100282
• Odimegwu, J.I., Nkemehule, F.E., Eke, Jane-Sharon E. E, Okunnuga J , Buhari AO , Okwuegbuna SN and Duru, Chidinma R (2021). Pharmaco-Chemical Analysis and In vivo toxicity assays of edible clays mined in Nigeria and Consumed Globally. Clays Clay Miner. 69, 155–166.https://doi.org/10.1007/s42860-021-00111-2
• Odimegwu, Joy I. Olukemi Odukoya, Alejandro Español, Maria Elena Sales (2020) Human Breast Tumour Cells Viability Effect of African Dioscorea rotundata tuber extracts in MCF-7 and MDA-MB231 cell lines. DOI: 10.4172/Rep cancer Treat.6.2.001

Collaborators/ Networks (International inclusive) 

• Richardson Okechukwu, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture IITA, Ibadan. Nigeria
• Maria Elena Sales Center for Pharmacological and Botanical Studies (CEFYBO) -CONICET. School of Medicine. University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

• Dr. Jürg Gertsch Deputy Managing Director Infrastructure and Research, Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine. University of Bern. Switzerland

• DR. KEMAL HÜSNÜ CAN BAŞER; Faculty of Pharmacy, Near East University Turkey\
• Prof. Ester Vázquez Fernández-Pacheco, Director of IRICA. MSOC NanoChemistry Group Head. University of Castilla La Mancha. Ciudad Real. Spain