Inemesit Okon Ben

I am Inemesit Okon Ben, a faculty member at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana. I have B.Sc. Biochemistry and Ph.D. Pharmacology all from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.

My research focus is to understand and discover natural products, basically, of plant sources that have pharmacological effects with major focus on pain and inflammation. I also seek to elucidate the mechanism of action of these plants by studying receptors, cytokines, mediators and enzymes through the body with the goal of identifying phytochemicals that exhibit useful binding affinity and therapeutic potential.

My interest in the WCAIR Training is to glean knowledge from experts in drug discovery to better my research skills back at my home institution, and that would be translating academic knowledge into research with the intention of producing clinical therapeutics candidates. WCAIR is an excellent place for translating academics into drug discovery research with state-of-the-art facilities put in place for effective research and learning, and the very erudite trainers dedicate to pass on knowledge unreservedly. I am most particular about research that involves determination of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics profiles of compounds and thus getting placed in the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) section of the Drug Discovery Unit (DDU) has exposed me to perform an array of in vitro DMPK assays and this would make me a rounded DMPK scientist.

I currently teach DMPK to undergraduate students and supervise undergraduate projects at my home Institution, so the learning and skills gained here will immediately help me better disseminate the newly acquired knowledge and become a better instructor and conduct more drug discovery-driven research. I also have colleagues that have been through this training and thus I will be better equipped to join acquired knowledge from WCAIR and work as a team in possibly setting up a drug discovery team or unit for Ghana.