Uwemedimo Friday Ekpo is a Professor of Parasitology and Epidemiology at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, where he started his academic career in March 1999. His area of expertise is in the epidemiology and control of schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, onchocerciasis, and lymphatic filariasis. He has also worked as a zonal programme officer in the Nigerian Guinea worm Eradication Programme from July 1991 to March 1999.
His professional and academic careers as being in the field of control of neglected tropical and infectious diseases, with experiences of 18 years working in Nigeria and Africa in the monitoring and evaluation for NTDs control programming for WHO/APOC and WHO/AFRO. These include onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and lymphatic filariasis. He was a recipient of the prestigious junior and senior postdoctoral fellowships (2009-2015) in NTD by Volkswagen Foundation, Germany. He has excellent collaborative research and programming relationship with Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland, Sightsavers Nigeria, and MITOSATH Nigeria. He is currently a management board member of the African Research Network for NTD (ARNTD), a member of the National Onchocerciasis Elimination Committee (NOEC), and also a member of the Ogun State NTDs advisory committee. He is the founder of EliminateNTD.org.ng, an online resource and networks for NTDs stakeholders in Nigeria. Prof Ekpo has over 60 published articles related to NTDs and other infectious diseases. Prof Ekpo is currently an Associate editor with PLoS NTD, BMC Infectious Diseases and reviewers for many international journals.