Nwadiuto Esiobu Florida Atlantic University

Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Louvain, Belgium and a Post-doctoral training in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the Director of the Microbial Biotechnology laboratory at the Davie campus of Florida Atlantic University where she has developed and taught many courses and labs. Her research integrates Environmental quality and health risk assessment, with emphasis on rapid detection of pathogens, source-tracking pollution and examining the role of the environment is the emergence of antibiotic resistance. She is the Chair of the International Advisory Board of the World Bank Step-B projects. During her ten year tenure as a committee member of the Education Board and the International Education Committee of the American Society for Microbiology she has played active roles in curriculum and teaching resource development, strategic planning and performance assessment of the committee programs.   State Department Profile Office of Global Food Security Secretary of State Nwadiuto Esiobu was a senior science advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Global Food Security (S/GFS) and the Bureau of Oceans and International Scientific and Environmental Affairs Office of International Health and Bio-defense (OES/IHB). She drafted and cleared technical / scientific documents for international diplomacy; prepared briefing papers for Department of State executives and served on a number of interagency task forces to develop position papers in her areas of expertise. In the S/GFS, Diuto served to advance the President’s Feed the Future initiative: As such she interacted closely with many offices, agencies and international development partners (the G8, L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) members and Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program Development Partners) to promote (a) Adoption of agricultural biotechnology internationally, and in Africa in particular (b) Creation of enabling environments for sustainable food security in the context of global climatic changes and (c) Engagement of the US private sector in food security investments in Africa. She helped to organize and host the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI) meeting in Washington DC and was closely involved with developing U.S. negotiation papers for the G8 summit in the summer. Office of International Health and Biodefense Bureau of Oceans and International Scientific and Environmental Affairs At OES/IHB Diuto initiated awareness and developed strategies for reducing the circulation of Counterfeit and Substandard Medicines (CSM) globally and in Africa in particular. She conducted extensive research on the scope of the problem and the nature of the hazards as well as the root causes of the issue. Her focus was the public health threats and hazards associated with the practice. She mobilized local, international and regional interventions to mitigate CSM distribution and empower consumers. She provided technical guidance for the production of Tool Kits and an awareness campaign.

 
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