While students and faculty members have had a few weeks to settle with new schedules and meeting new people, one Florida A&M official is just getting started.
Seth Ablordeppey began his first day as the interim dean at the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences yesterday. He succeeds Henry Lewis, III, who served as the dean for 15 years. Since Lewis’ departure from FAMU, he has been announced as president of Florida Memorial University.
Ablordeppey has been with the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences for more than 17 years. He is an accomplished researcher and currently serves as the director of the Basic Sciences Division within the College.
Last spring, Ablordeppey was awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He worked with local scientists and traditional herbalists to identify and transform plant products with antibacterial and antifungal properties into potential drugs for the treatment of one of the most threatening infections acquired while in the hospital.
The treatments also had uses against other opportunistic infections, especially those associated with AIDS.
Ablordeppey’s research efforts are extensive. He has secured a patent for the treatment of mental
illness. He received a patent for “Haloperidol Analogs,” or new drugs derived from haloperidol for the treatment of mental illness, especially schizophrenia. Unlike its predecessor, the new drugs are designed to treat schizophrenia without producing movement disorders similar to Parkinsons. Initial tests suggest the new drugs may not produce weight gain, which can lead to type II diabetes, a characteristic of the most recent treatment option for schizophrenia. Thus, the new agents have the potential to replace the antipsychotic drugs currently on the market without producing the debilitating side effects associated with them.
Ablordeppey received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana; his master’s of science degree from the University of Science and Technology, Ghana and his Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss.