Absztrakt
Tribute to Amazon of Pharmacology Professor Dinah Mary James, OBE
25 March 1919 - 09 February 2020
She came, she saw and not only did she conquer, she left an enduring legacy in Nigeria, the
country she lived for twenty years from 1958 when she arrived. Almost without gainsaying,
Professor Dinah Mary James, OBE, who was fondly called Iya Pharmacology spent her entire
productive years for research and training in Pharmacology at the Nigeria’s first Medical School,
University of Ibadan where she rose to become the first Professor of Pharmacology in 1965.
Professor Dinah Mary James was appointed Senior Lecturer in our Department of
Pharmacology in 1958 and was the first Academic to be appointed directly in the fledging
Department which had been part of Department of Physiology until 1952. She retired from
the University in 1978 and returned to the United Kingdom. In 1980, Professor Dinah James was
conferred with the prestigious OBE by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II for services to medicine
and research.
The commitment of, and fortunately the impact of Iya Pharmacology in the research and
teaching of pharmacology to generations of students from all parts of the country could place her
in the same league of Pharmacology Greats like: Oswald Schiedeberg (Germany), John Abel
(USA), and Arthur Cushny (UK), at least, insofar as Nigeria is concerned! Indeed, Our
University of Ibadan benefited from great Pharmacologists like Bill Bowman, Eleanor Zaimis,
Alan Cuthbert and Heinz Schild who, at the instance of Dinah James, were regularly visiting for
purpose of research and training of both undergraduate and postgraduate students of the
University.
On Sunday, 09 February 2020, only weeks to her 101st birthday on the 25 March 2020,
Amazon, Professor Dinah Mary James, OBE, took her last breath and finally slept for ever; Iya
Pharmacology, good night!
Tribute by D T Okpako - Retired Professor, Former Head, Department of Pharmacology and
Therapeutics, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences; Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy,University
of Ibadan, Nigeria and F A Fehintola - Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology
and Therapeutics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.