Francisca Nwaokorie, MSc,PhD

Francisca is an Associate Professor with a specialty in Medical Microbiology. Her primary research focus is on microbial biodiversity and the functionality of anaerobes the key microbes in the Human Microbiome. She has used molecular techniques to profile the gut, oral, and vagina microbes in relation to biodiversity, functional and antimicrobial resistance genes, to guide the selection of antimicrobial agents for proper patient care. Her work established the genetic profile of Nigerian strains of oral Fusobacterium nucleatum involved in oral infections. Her recent work is on a microbiome study in the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Transforming Parkinson’s Care in Africa (TraPCAf). Francisca is the Lagos Site Biorepository Team Lead in a multi-site clinical trial project titled “The Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). She is also a trainee with the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) as a member of the Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) project group