Bamidele Owoyele
University of Ilorin, Nigeria

https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.95.20a

12–14 February 2014,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria

The members of the Physiological Society of Nigeria (PSN), which was founded in 1979, met at Ibadan, the largest city in West Africa. The Head of Department, Adesoji Fasanmade, was quite delighted to welcome members to the conference, which took place at the newly commissioned ultra modern international conference centre of the University. The meeting started on 12 February with the arrival of participants and a guided tour of Ibadan land. However, the opening ceremony was held on 13 February and the president of the Society, Eme Osim, gave a speech highlighting the developments in the Society during the past four years of his leadership. He appreciated the efforts of the Local Organizing Committee as well as the Department of Physiology. He also pointed out that the theme (see thematic lecture below) was very topical, emphasizing the link physiology has with the laboratory, hospital and society. He congratulated seven members of the society who were elevated to the rank of Professor in the last 12 months. The key note address was subsequently delivered by Olatunde Farombi titled ’The role of selected phytochemicals in chemoprevention and their clinical outcomes’. This lecture focused on the chemopreventive effects of phytochemicals such as kolaviron, epivernodalol and curcumin and their potential in animal models as well as the various efforts that have been made to translate the basic research to clinical applications. The lecture was followed by a thematic lecture delivered by Olusoga Sofola titled ’Physiology: The laboratory, the Hospital and Society’.

For the first time, prizes were introduced for the Society’s conferences. The prizes were for younger physiologists and included best overall poster presenter, best first time poster presenter, best overall oral presenter, best first time oral presenter, best presentation in the field of renal physiology, and most outstanding research output. There was a plenary session followed by oral and poster sessions.

On 14 February, Frank Mojiminiyi delivered a plenary lecture on the use of a dietary approach for the treatment of hypertension. The session was followed by four parallel oral sessions as well as a poster session. Later in the evening, the Annual General Meeting was held and one of the most important issues discussed was the need to mobilize members for the forthcoming IUPS/PSN Regional Teaching & Research Workshop which has been slated for October 2014 in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria. The workshop is expected to draw participants from across the world. The preparations for this meeting led to the postponement of elections of new executives for the Society.

The last event of the conference was the Society dinner where there were lots of local dishes and drinks for members. The members were entertained by a traditional music band after which the various prizes were awarded to the winners. The secretary of the Local Organizing Committee (Samual Olaleye) informed members that 336 participants attended the meeting with 95 attendees applying to become members. A total of 130 oral and poster presentations were made. The meeting was truly refreshing and I had my debut as a rapporteur for one of the plenary sessions.

Acknowledgement

I would like to express my appreciation to the University of Ilorin for providing funding support for my attendance of the meeting. Special thanks to Frank Mojiminiyi for going through the draft of the report and to Samuel Olaleye for his encouragement.