Assistant Program Director, NIMR
Chika K. Onwuamah, PhD (Cell Biology and Genetics), is a Deputy-Director (Research) and the Head of Department, Microbiology at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR). He is also the Team Lead of the Population Genomics and Cancer Group (POPGEC), Centre for Human Virology and Genomics, NIMR.
Since 2001, Dr Onwuamah has worked on helminthic infections, malaria, population genetics, genotoxicity and HIV drug resistance. From 2006 to 2017, he coordinated quality control and assurance in Nigeria’s first ISO 15189:2012 accredited public laboratory – The Centre for Human Virology and Genomics. He then led this Centre from 2017 to January 2020.
From 2008, he was part of several studies genotyping HIV, growing from co-investigator to principal investigator. His current research focuses on HIV drug resistance, genomic predisposition to diseases and developing diagnostics for resource-limited settings. He developed Nigeria’s first indigenous assay for SARS-CoV-2 called SARS-CoV-2 Isothermal Molecular Assay (SIMA). Dr Onwuamah is the lead faculty for HIV drug resistance testing, with ISO 15189 accreditation and World Health Organization recognition as the National HIV drug resistance testing facility. He has also worked extensively on identifying and genotyping other high-risk Human Papillomavirus prevalent among women living in Nigeria. He is currently pioneering the investigation of genomic predispositions to infections and health conditions among Nigerians, beginning with a predisposition to severe COVID-19 and pre-eclampsia.
To develop sustainable health interventions, Dr Onwuamah is interested in using “MULTIOMICS” research to understand host-pathogen-environment inter-relationships