Vincent Idemyor: A career on the cutting edge of science

Alumnus Dr. Vincent Idemyor was drawn to the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy through a book he found in the library at the University of Iowa. Reading through the rankings of  pharmacy schools in the country, he spotted Minnesota at number three. Since graduating with his PharmD in the class of 1986, he’s led a fulfilling career across both the U.S. and Nigeria working on precision medicine in infectious diseases, studying the effects of climate change on health care delivery, and fostering global partnerships in pursuit of bolstering pharmacy education.

Following graduation, Idemyor became a clinical faculty member at the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago and also head of clinical pharmacology at Insight Hospital and Medical Center, formerly Mercy Hospital. His interest in infectious disease began during his PharmD at the college.

“The University of Minnesota was very heavy then on the issue of transplantation and I was exposed to that group— I was also exposed to some fine lecturers in infectious diseases,” he said. “I wanted to be on the cutting edge. I always liked being on the cutting edge of science.”

His work in infectious disease started with research on antibiotic resistance and working with Klebsiella pneumonia bacteria— he and his team were the first to describe an enzyme responsible for much of the antibiotic resistance in intensive care units in the Chicago area. At that hospital, he served as the section head of clinical pharmacology and was involved in HIV and AIDS research and numerous clinical trials, bringing his work into global view. He focused on precision medicine as a way of customizing HIV treatment to account for “genetics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and social context” and as a route to “help close treatment gaps between high- and low-resource” environments.  

“I was doing clinical trials looking at antiretrovirals in HIV-infected individuals because around the world in the late 1980s and early 90s, it was a big problem and we had to find a solution,” Idemyor said. “And when the opportunity came for me to try other things globally, I was contacted and I accepted.”

Idemyor’s “first outing with the global world” was in the United Nations, leading a review of health care providers across Nigeria for the country’s HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria initiative. Now, he spends roughly four months of the year in the U.S. and eight months in Nigeria, where he is a distinguished visiting scholar and professor at the University of Port Harcourt, sought out for his assistance in establishing a college of pharmacy with a global view. 

“Because Nigeria got independence from England, the curriculum, most of the program, the university, and the way it's designed is tilted towards the English style and implementation of programs,” Idemyor said. “Now it’s routine in Nigeria that pharmacy schools offer the Doctor of Pharmacy program in their curriculum. So, it's gone a long way.”

In 2023, Idemyor received the Donald E. Francke Medal from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists for his contributions toward advancing global pharmacy practice. He has also begun to examine infectious disease through the lens of global warming, identifying links between rising temperatures and disease patterns.

“Pharmacists are frontline sentinels in a warming world— monitoring drug stability, adjusting doses for heat-stressed patients, and educating communities on the intersection of climate change and medication safety,” he said. 

Idemyor said the future of his career most likely looks like independent consulting in higher education and staying involved in health care policy and equity issues. He believes that in the field of health sciences, societal challenges are solved by effective science communication in an era of misinformation. His advice to the next generation of PharmD students encourages them to not take anything for granted, commit to learning the difficult science, search for mentors, prioritize collaboration with other health care professionals, and learn soft skills outside of the classroom, such as how to present yourself and interact with people. 

“If you learn the science, it's much easier to translate the science into other things you want to do. You can't run away from that,” Idemyor said. “Anything good is going to be difficult.”