Obidimma Ezezika

Obidimma Ezezika is a Pillar Leader at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global health and Project Manager of the ethical, social, cultural and commercialization program for Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA). His research is focused on the intersection of science and policy in the development of biotechnology initiatives in developing countries.

Obidimma graduated from the University of Lagos in Nigeria with a Bachelor of Science. After working for one year with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, he pursued a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Georgia in the United States where he focused on structural biology and the molecular genetics of bioremediation with lead-author publications in the journals of Molecular Biology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and Acta Crystallograhica. He completed a master’s degree in environmental management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies focusing on environmental policy, economics and law, and was selected by his colleagues as one of the two valedictorian speakers for the graduating class of 2008.

Just before completing his master’s program at Yale, he worked for one year with the United Nations Development Program in New York City, where he reviewed environmental projects worth $14.2 million awarded by the Small Grants Program of the Global Environmental Facility, working with 45 UNDP coordinators in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Latin America and Europe. His dedication to project management and scientific research earned the distinguished excellence award at the University of Georgia for outstanding accomplishment during his doctoral program in 2005. He was also awarded three additional fellowships on leadership and academic excellence at Yale, including an award by the Air and Waste Management Association, in recognition of excellence in environmental management, policy research and study in 2007.

Obidimma has worked in various capacities for a variety of national and international organizations including a chartered construction cost and consulting firm in Nigeria, the University of Georgia River Basin Center, the Yale Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental biology and the Grenada permanent mission to the United Nations.