Dr. Sunday Agba Bisong

MBBS (Sydney), FRACS (Paediatric Surgery)

Dr. Sunday Agba Bisong is an Associate Professor and the Acting Head of the Department of Physiology. He holds B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. (2010) degrees in Physiology with specialization in Neurophysiology/Neurobehaviour from the University of Calabar, Nigeria. As part of completing his Ph.D. research, in April 2007 Dr. Bisong was awarded a 6-month students Exchange scholarship by the Department for Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), Canada at the Department of Psychology/Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. After graduation, Dr. Bisong was awarded the prestigious John G. Nicholls Postdoctoral Fellowship by the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) in 2012, following which he was named John G. Nicholls Fellow of the International Brain Research Organisation. He won the IBRO Return Home grant in 2015 which he used to establish a Neurobehaviour Laboratory in the Department of Physiology. He also has several short courses training certificates in Neuroscience and a Mitacs Certificate on Entrepreneurship from Dalhousie University, Halifax NS Canada. Dr. Bisong has been researching on “The potentials of some natural products on alleviating memory/ cognitive decline in animal models of memory impairment”. One of these researches (“Methods of aqueous root bark extract of Rauwolfia vomitoria and its uses thereof”) was awarded a joint patent, which he shares with Prof. Eme Osim of the same department, by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2018 (Patent No. NG/P/2018/142). Dr. Bisong is very active in research and teaching, and has about 38 peer-reviewed scientific publications to his credit. He teaches Neurophysiology at all levels of undergraduate and graduate programmes as well as related courses like Foundations of Physiology, Physiology of Excitable tissues, Special senses, Neuroendocrinology and Endocrinology in the Department of Physiology. He has successfully initiated and completed over 13 postgraduate students’ research theses and well over a hundred undergraduate students’ projects, and currently has an army of undergraduate and graduate students under his supervision. He was the Chairman of the departmental graduate committee from 2011 until October 2018 when he was appointed the Acting Head of Department. He was also the Deputy Director/Enterprise Manager of the University of Entrepreneurship Development Centre from 2013 to 2015. Dr. Bisong is a member of several learned societies: Physiological Society of Nigeria (PSN), Neuroscience Society of Nigeria (NSN), International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO), International Society for Neurochemists (ISN), International Society for the Study of Pain (IASP), Society for Neuroscientists of Africa (SONA), Society for Neuroscience (SfN), Federation of European Neuroscience Society (FENS), Canadian Association of Neuroscientists (CAN), Institute of Policy Management and Development (IPMD), International Brain Bee (IBB). He has been awarded several travel grants by IBRO, SFN, ISN, PENS and SONA to attend several international conferences. He has also attended several summer schools on Neuroscience. He is currently a member of the Young-IBRO Committee representing the African region. He is also currently been assessed for promotion to the rank of Professor of Neurophysiology. .