1. Tell us about yourself.

I am Ozi Oghide from Nigeria. I am a consultant/specialist Family Physician and currently practice at the emergency department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Lagos Nigeria. I am involved in the initial management of several emergency conditions especially cerebrovascular accident and complications of poorly controlled blood pressure, sepsis and others.

2. What are your research interests?

My research interest is centred around finding out the prevalence of hypertension among young adults including the electrocardiographic findings in relation to their parental hypertensive status. There seems to be a rising incidence of cardiovascular mortality among young adults in developing countries.

3. What are you working on right now?

I am currently working on the blood pressure profile among young adults aged 18-40 years with hypertensive parents and those with normotensive parents in Western Nigeria.

4. What do you hope to achieve in the field of hypertension over the next 5 years?

I look forward to making a significant contribution and possible intervention in the prevention and care of cardiovascular diseases including hypertension among young adults in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa. To further enhance this, I look forward to commencing a Master of Science in Genomics (Cardiovascular, Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome).

5. What challenges have you faced in your career to date?

I have faced challenges of logistics in carrying out research and the high cost of conducting certain research such as studies involving routine ECGs, Echocardiography, Holter monitoring among a large sample population.

Also I have had limited access to high impact journals due to extremely high publication and authors fees.

6. Which of your publications are you proudest of and why (please include paper reference)

Most of my work on hypertension and its complications in young adults is at its final stages of completion and is yet to be published. However, so far I would say my publication on ’Physicians knowledge, approach and Perceived barriers to the diagnosis and management of Sepsis in a public Tertiary Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria: A descriptive cross-sectional study’(https://doi.org/10.4103/jcls.jcls_45_23). This paper made me believe in myself and encouraged me to keep pushing in research.

7. What is your favourite manuscript from a lab other than your own?

My favourite manuscript is by P Ranansinghe et al, titled: ‘The influence of family history of hypertension on disease prevalence and associated metabolic risk factors among Sri Lankan adults.’ (https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-015-1927-7)

8. What are your passions outside of work?

Travelling, playing table tennis, reading books and making new friends.