After more than 15 years of working at the forefront of Nigeria’s HIV response, laboratory systems, and global health programs, Lukman Ademola Adepoju has embarked on a new chapter transitioning from public health implementation to advanced biomedical research.

Adepoju is now a PhD candidate at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), where his research cuts across infectious diseases, toxicology, and molecular virology. His work focuses specifically on HIV, hepatitis viruses, and alcohol-related liver injury.

“After years of working on the clinical and programmatic sides of infectious diseases, I wanted to better understand why these diseases behave the way they do at the molecular level,” he said.

“Transitioning to biomedical research gives me the tools to investigate the cellular mechanisms that drive pathogenesis and therapeutic resistance.”

Before joining UNMC, Adepoju built a career in Nigeria’s health sector. He served as Senior Technical Officer (Laboratory Services) with FHI 360 under the CDC-funded SPEED project, where he helped expand and optimize HIV viral load testing across in 16 local government areas in Ekiti State. He also worked with the Achieving Health Nigeria Initiative (AHNi) under NAHI Global Fund project as a Technical Officer for Molecular Diagnostic Labs and previously held position as principal biomedical scientist in Ondo state hospital management board.

At UNMC, Adepoju is mentored by Professor Natalia Osna in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience. His current study, HIV and alcohol synergize to spread inflammation and cell death in parenchymal liver cells, explores how alcohol and HIV co-exposure worsen liver damage in people living with HIV. The research, which he presented at the American Society for Intracellular Communication in 2025, examines how apoptotic bodies from HIV- and ethanol-exposed hepatocytes trigger inflammation and multiple cell-death pathways in healthy liver cells. The team also found that blocking the asialoglycoprotein receptor reduced harmful inflammatory responses—pointing to a potential therapeutic target.

Adepoju’s career so far has combined advance clinical laboratory practice, program leadership, and scientific mentorship. He has designed quality systems aligned with ISO 15189, guided molecular laboratories for early infant diagnosis, and supported viral load surveillance for national HIV control efforts. His contributions have earned several recognitions, including the recent national recognition of Excellence in Ecotoxicology and Public Health by National Institute of Professional Engineers and Scientists (NIPES), Diagnostic Merit Award of the Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (2024) and multiple professional fellowships.

With advanced degrees in clinical chemistry, epidemiology, and toxicology, Adepoju represents a growing class of African scientists bridging policy, practice, and molecular discovery. His research interests span HIV immune dynamics, alcohol-induced liver toxicity, and liver–brain interactions during viral infections.

Looking ahead, he plans to expand his work to investigate how liver injury in HIV patients influences neurological health. His long-term vision is to build a translational research model that connects molecular insights to public health solutions in low-resource settings.

Reflecting on his journey, Adepoju says, “My earlier career taught me how health systems function; my research career now focuses on how the smallest molecular disruptions within cells can shape those systems. Bridging these two worlds is my lifelong goal.”