Assoc. Prof. Abdullateef Isiaka ALAGBONSI, Ph.D., LL.B.

Prof. Abdullateef Isiaka Alagbonsi is currently an Associate Professor of Physiology at the University of Rwanda. He is the President and Convener of the East African Society of Physiological Sciences (EASPS). He is also the Secretary-General of the African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS), and a member of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS)’ Taskforce on the Physiology Mentoring Program in Africa. He is a pure Physiologist with a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Ilorin, and an M.Sc. Physiology from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He also obtained a Law Degree (with First Class Honours) from the University of Lay Adventists of Kigali and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD), Rwanda. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Legislative Studies at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, where he specializes in Legislative Drafting. He is also a Nigerian Human Rights Activist with a passion for good governance, transparency, and accountability, having a voice in the anti-corruption fight. In Kwara State, he is the Coordinator of the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), a Civil Society Organization known for its anti-corruption activities. He has attracted some educational and research grants. One of the grants attracted by his research team, where he is the Co-PI, was funded by the Africa Academy of Science and is investigating the genomic and environmental factors associated with neurodevelopmental disorders in Rwandan children. Another grant of his team, where he is also the Co-PI, was funded by the Rwandan National Council for Science and Technology and is developing Telegenetics and Genomic Testing in Rwandan Patients with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Recently, his collaborative team also attracted a huge grant from the Brazilian Government funding agency, CNPq, worth 10,495,520 Brazilian Reals (equivalent to 1.9 million USD) to conduct studies on liver diseases. Other grants previously attracted by him and his EASPS team from the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), American Physiological Society (APS), The Physiological Society – UK (TPS), German Physiological Society (DPG), the Physiological Society of Japan, and many Universities in Tanzania were used to organize the highly successful conference held in Tanzania between 29th November and 1st December, 2023, that was themed “strengthening physiology education, research, and practice in Africa”. Being an experienced physiology educator for the last 14 years, he has taught virtually all areas of physiology in different universities in Africa and has contributed to the development and revision of up to 18 curricula in medical sciences. He is passionate about the growth of Physiology in Africa. He also has about 90 peer-reviewed research publications in reputable journals and has supervised several Ph.D. theses, in addition to M.Sc. and MBBS dissertations. He has a lot of administrative experience in various technical committees within the university system. He was the initiator of the Physiology Curriculum for African Universities (PhysioCAFUN), a persuasive resource document launched during the joint EASPS – AAPS conference in Tanzania in 2023 that stakeholders in Africa can consult regarding the desired training and competence of physiologists. The document sought to help African universities where there is a dearth of physiologists who are able to draft a curriculum suitable for their local needs, and also assist universities where physiology programs are already in place to benchmark and/or revise their curriculum as may be needed. He has also developed some Educational games to ease the teaching and learning of complex concepts in Physiology modules.