NIMR, NIPRD to begin postdoctoral programme- Health Minister

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare says plans are already on to begin a postdoctoral fellowship programme at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and the Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD).

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Dr Tunji Alausa, the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, disclosed this at the inauguration of the National Health Research Committee held in Lagos on Thursday.

Alausa said the two research institutes had been mandated to admit 100 postdoctoral fellows each.

The postdoctoral fellow is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies.

“We have put plans in place and also discussed with the two Director-Generals on our plans to start a postdoctoral fellowship programme.

“We have mandated the two institutes to admit 100 students each and in the next four years,we will have almost 1000 postdoctoral fellows,” he said.

The minister noted that programme would help to sustain the National Health Research Committee (NHRC) into the future.

“We are doing this because our plan for the NHRC is sustainability into the future and through this, we will produce a lot of fellows that will be actively involved in research”.

The NHRC is chaired by Prof. Funmilayo Olopade, a Nigerian Hematology Oncologist, and a distinguished Service Professor in Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, U.S.

NAN/Wumi