Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences

Professor Taiwo R. KOTILA
Dean, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences

Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan

Establishment of Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences was approved in June 2023 by the authority of University of Ibadan; making it the 5^th Faculty in the College of Medicine that itself evolved from one of the three foundation faculties of University of Ibadan, the Faculty of Medicine.  Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences is need-based and has sprouted from Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences for purpose of enhancing productivity. The constituent departments are: Chemical Pathology, Hematology, Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Pathology (Anatomic Pathology) and, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, the five departments involved in the part two examinations of the Medical and Dental Students.  Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, therefore, is a bridge between Basic Medical Science Departments of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology, and the Clinical (and Dentistry) Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Child Oral Health, and others. It is noteworthy that medical training and organization of medical schools continue to evolve with a view to improving efficiency. 

The fledgling Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences is well-positioned to coordinate implementation science, promote conduct of multidisciplinary research, and engender international collaboration. Indeed, constituents of Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences have excelled and, projected Ibadan Medical School and University of Ibadan for several decades.  These departments have, individually and/or collaboratively, executed and continue to execute numerous funded projects by WHO, NIH, Welcome Trust, Gates Foundation and other National and International Agencies. Bacteriology, venerology, and other units in the Department of Medical Microbiology and parasitology are currently engaged in few Internationally funded projects, for example, A clinically Oriented antimicrobial Resistance surveillance Network (ACORN 2) funded by the Welcome Trust.  Typhoid Environmental Surveillance Study (TESS) in Nigeria.  Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics has conducted/continues to conduct landmark research works in malaria chemotherapy including studies on antihypertensive drugs, resistance reversal and combination chemotherapy in malaria.  It is noteworthy that in Nigeria, pioneering works on hematological conditions such as hemoglobinopathies and hemophilia were conducted in our Department of Hematology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.

Departments in branches of Pathology; Chemical Pathology, Hematology, Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, and Histopathology have provided and are providing vital support in diagnosis of diseases spanning molecular diagnostics, biochemical analyses, hematological assessments as well as determination of anomalies of tissue architecture including histochemistry, and identification of microbes for purpose of securing public health.  The Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences Department of Medical Microbiology and parasitology continues to provide the needed support in the control of tuberculosis as a reference laboratory.  The department actively participated in the early studies on HIV microbicides, and recently the clinical virology unit provided commendable critical service to our country in combating the scourge of Covid-19 infection.  While the Department of Chemical Pathology engages in nutrition, toxicology-related studies, the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics provides clinical services in the treatment of hypertension as well as research in ethnopharmacology, neuropharmacology, and clinical trials and pharmaco-epidemiology. 

In addition to training MBBS/BDS Students and other Undergraduate Students of Our College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, all the departments are variously engaged in the training of postgraduate professional and academic programmes including Fellowship Programmes and, MSc, PhD and MD programmes.  Academic postgraduate programmes are University of Ibadan-based programmes whereas fellowship programmes are professional hospital-based.  One complements the other, serving the veritable source of the needed manpower for Nigerian educational and health institutions.  Consequently, Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences may be described as Bench to Bedside, perhaps, Bench and Bedside!