By Tunde Olofintila
Barely a year after the globally respected Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, THEIR, rated Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Nigeria, as Number 1 University out of the extant universities in the country and Number 321 globally, Dr. Deborah Tolulope Esan, an Associate Professor of Nursing, has again put the 13-year-old university on the international grid of impactful research and academic excellence.
The Honorees will be recognized at Sigma’s 34th International Nursing Research Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, in July.
Esan’s Award is unique and remarkable in that she is the first Nigerian and the fourth African to win the Award since it was instituted in 2015. The Esan’s global attainment came through her emergence as one of the six Award recipients of the Emerging Nurse Researcher/Scholar Award for the African Region for 2023.
The other Africans before Esan were Dr. Siedine Knobloch Coetzee, an Associate Professor at the School of Nursing Science of the North-West University, South Africa in 2016, Dr. Lydia Aziato, a Senior Lecturer hana in 2017 and Dr. Shelley Schmollgruber of the Department of Nursing and Head of Adult Health Department, School of Nursing, University of G Education at the WITS Faculty of Health Sciences, South Africa.
The 2023 Winners with Esanr are Dr. Jojo Y.Y. Kwok, Assistant Professor School of Nursing, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Asia Region, Dr. Heidi Singleton, Children’s Nursing Academic, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, England, Europe Region, Dr. Laila Ladak, Associate Professor, Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Karachi, Pakistan, Middle East Region, Dr. William E. Rosa, Assistant Attending Behavioral Scientist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA, North America Region and Dr. Cliff J. Connell, Deputy Director Graduate Research Monash University, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, Monash Nursing & Midwifery, Melbourne, Australia, Oceania Region.
The Award, by Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, has thus become a further acknowledgment of the quality inherent in our 13-year-old organized university.
The cheering and elevating news came vide an E-mail dated March 15, 2023 signed by the Corporate Partnerships Officer of Sigma Foundation for Nursing, Mr. Chris Beaman, to the Founder & Chancellor of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, informing him that Esan “is one of the five emerging Nurse Researchers and Scholars being recognized during the International Nursing Research Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arabs Emirates this July”.
Giving more details of the Award in their letter dated February 24, 2023, the President of the Sigma International Research Awards, Dr. Kenneth Dion, and the Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Elizabeth Madigan, predicated Esan’s Award on her achievements and contributions to research, said:
“Dear Dr. Esan, Congratulations! On behalf of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing (Sigma), we are pleased to notify you that you have been selected as a recipient of the 2023 Emerging Nurse Researcher/Scholar Award for the Africa Region. You will be honored at Sigma’s 34th International Nursing Research Congress, 20-35 July 2023, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“Sigma is pleased to recognize you for your achievements in and contributions to research. Additional information regarding recognition, registration, and the opportunity to share your work at a special session will arrive in a few days…
“Thank you for your continued support of Sigma and your contributions to nursing research. We encourage you to explore all of Sigma’s awards. You can find out more about open award cycles at SigmaNursing.org/Awards.
“Your exceptional work in research is an inspiration to nurses everywhere. We look forward to celebrating your achievements in July”.
The Emerging Nurse Researcher/Scholar Award was set up in 2015 but revised in 2019. The Award recognizes early career Nurse Researchers and Scholars from each of Sigma’s seven Global Regions whose research or scholarship has influenced the Nursing profession and the people it serves.
Following the 2022 Award presentation, Sigma has recognized 27 Nurse Researchers from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America/Caribbeans, Middle East and North America as well as Oceania.
A cancer Researcher, Dr. Esan is a multiple Awards Winner, including but are not limited to the University of Ibadan Postgraduate Student Award for publishing in a reputable International Journal (2021), Afe Babalola University Founder & Chancellor Research Award for publication in Scopus-indexed Journal (2020, 2021 and 2022), Best Abstract Award (2016), Carnegie Scholarship for Female Postgraduate Students (2011), Award of the Best Student in Clinical Practice and Nurse of the Year during her Undergraduate Degree Program and the Meticulous Award of Excellence, awarded by the Nigerian Universities Nursing Students Association (NUNSA).
She is currently the Research Coordinator and the College Examination Officer for the College of Medicine & Health Sciences, University Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti. Dr. Esan continues to mentor young ones towards academic excellence, moral uprightness, and scientific paper writing.
Reacting to the development, the Founder & Chancellor of ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN, thanked the Sigma Nursing Foundation for taking note of the research and academic excellence inherent in Dr. Esan, a seasoned Researcher, an emerging Scholar and an Educationist who is committed to mentoring younger ones towards academic excellence, moral uprightness and writing of scientific papers.
His words: “I am happy that all of these are happening in my lifetime. We started the university on a rather modest note with 240 students on Monday, January 4, 2010, but today, to the glory of God and through hard work, determination and selflessness as well as the cooperation of all stakeholders, particularly the parents, the teachers, the Regulatory Authorities such as the National Universities Commission, NUC, the Medical & Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCN, the Council for Legal Education among others, we are adjudged to have done well. Indeed, it can be said without any fear of contradiction that we have overshot our expectations in the first 13 years of our existence as a university”.
He added: “The university’s globally acclaimed outstanding achievements in Medicine, Engineering, Accounting, ICT and the Science notwithstanding, our prayer, hope and vision is to be able to consolidate and build on these achievements of the first 13 years and make ABUAD one of the First 100 universities in the world in the next 10 years. It is achievable. If we could be where we are today within the first 13 years, with the grace of God, more hard work and the cooperation of all stakeholders, we will be among the First 100 universities in the world in the next 10 years.