Not Even Deadly Illness Could Halt Dr Baiyegunhi’s Momentum

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‘This is an amazing accomplishment. It was a very challenging endeavour but I’m excited that I was able to pull through and complete the degree.’

These were the sentiments of Dr Omolara Olujimi Baiyegunhi upon obtaining her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Immunology. Baiyegunhi completed her degree in the School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences (LMMS) in the HIV Pathogenesis Programme under the supervision of Dr Zaza Ndlovu.

The 39-year-old doctor studied Biochemistry as an undergraduate degree and graduated with a BSc Honors Biochemistry from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Nigeria. She completed her Master’s degree in Biochemistry at UKZN’s Pietermaritzburg campus. After completing her Master’s degree, she realised that she needed to focus on her passion which is biomedical research for translation into healthcare practices. With HIV/AIDS being a major global health challenge, Baiyegunhi wanted to contribute to the eradication of the disease.

‘I completed my Master’s degree and my doctoral degree at UKZN. I can say that it was a good experience. Overall, I had access to world-class facilities for my research and I think the calibre of academics in the Institution is also exceptional,’ she said.

Baiyegunhi’s unique PhD study investigated the function of immune cells called T follicular helper (Tfh) cells that help the body to fight HIV infection. Her study also investigated where HIV hides in the body of people who start taking antiretroviral drugs immediately after contracting the virus. Her study found that giving people antiretroviral therapy very early after contracting HIV helps preserve the function of Tfh cells and that it takes more than two years of taking the treatment for the virus to stop replicating in organs of the body such as lymph nodes where it hides. These findings are important for the care of HIV infected individuals to ensure that they continue to take their treatment consistently for a long time to prevent the virus from coming back. ‘Another implication is for people conducting vaccine studies, that they should not interrupt treatment until after two to three years because the virus still persists in the lymph nodes and can readily start replicating if treatment is stopped early,’ she said.

Whilst maintain laser-like focus on her PhD studies, Baiyegunhi would be severely tested. During the first-year of her studies, she was diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and was in and out of hospitals for over six months. Given the physical and emotional trauma she had experienced as a result of her illness, resuming her studies was challenging; a struggle she however met in her stride. ‘Every worthy endeavour will definitely come with its own challenges but the knowledge acquired from overcoming that challenge also contributes to one’s overall success as well as lessons learnt which are often invaluable. It has been three years since then and I have been able to do excellent work and some of my work has been published in international journals and I have also presented my work at international conferences,’ she said.

Baiyegunhi plans to continue engaging in HIV research in the future. She is also interested in cancer research and would love to study how immunotherapies in cancer can be applicable to HIV eradication. 

Words: Lihle Sosibo 

Photograph: Rajesh Jantilal