Professor Chimezie Anyakora holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Chemistry from University of Nigeria Nsukka. He holds a master’s degree and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Lagos. Over these years he has attended various short courses to enhance his capacity as an academic. Among these are Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations from Harvard Kennedy School in Boston and USAID/Federal Rules and Regulations: Grant and Cooperative Agreements from Inside NGO in Washington DC.
He taught at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lagos for over a decade. During his time at the University of Lagos he was a member of various ad hoc and standing committees in the University. He served at the University Postgraduate board, central timetable committee, admission committee, examination malpractice committee and many others. He was part of the international transition team for the African University of Science and Technology Abuja where he worked with other colleagues across the world to craft a strategy for the University. He has served on the editorial boards and as a reviewer of many international journals across the world.
He is seasoned scientist who has an extensive experience in analytical techniques and has applied this in solving numerous problems in food and pharmaceutical and environmental sector. He has also been involved in Public Health and Medicine Quality research. He has supervised over twenty-five PhD and masters students and published scores of papers in the field of analytical and pharmaceutical chemistry. He was named the University of Lagos researcher of the year in 2009 among many other awards. He has presented numerous scientific papers in many international conferences across the world.
His research interest is on separation science. He is currently researching on the basic science and application of chromatography. He applies this in environmental and pharmaceutical analysis. In the recent past he has focused on developing methods for the determination of active pharmaceutical ingredients in water samples. For this he makes use of solid phase extraction as a method of pre-concentration. He has also been working on the detection of carcinogenic biomarkers in body fluids of occupationally exposed subjects. He is also involved in a research on medicine quality and strategies for advancing medicine quality agenda in low and middle-income countries.
Prof. Anyakora consulted for a Public Health program where he worked on projects across various African countries including Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Malawi, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and many more. He is currently administering a multi million dollars grant on pharmaceutical quality assurance across Nigeria. This involves working with the Federal Government of Nigeria, NAFDAC, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and the academia.
Prof. Anyakora is the founder of the Centre for Applied Research on Separation Science (CAROSS). CAROSS has been involved in various international collaborations with some Universities across the world including Carnegie Mellon University and Durham University. CAROSS and Durham have been involved in a collaborative research project for over three years. Carnegie Mellon University had an MOU with CAROSS and jointly applied for a multimillion dollars research grant. CAROSS has mentored many young Nigerian academics and helped place them in various postgraduate and post doctorate positions in many Universities across the world.