“Good leaders build products. Great leaders build cultures. Good leaders deliver results. Great leaders develop people. Good leaders have vision. Great leaders have values. Good leaders are role models at work. Great leaders are role models in life." – Adam Grant

Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola (B.Pharm, PhD, FAS, FAAS, FPSN, FPCPharm, FNAPharm, MIPAN), has become a household name that the above words best describe. Nee Anyabuike, she is a Pharmacist and Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry/Pharmacokinetics, University of Ibadan (UI). She is the immediate past and first female Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy, UI (2013-2017). Celebrated as a leading Nigerian female scientist and academic, she boasts an impressive list of firsts in her career. Babalola is one of the first few women to become a professor of pharmacy in Nigeria. Indeed, she was the first female professor of pharmacy at the University of Ibadan. She was the first female dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan. She was the first female pharmacist inducted as Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Science – the highest scientific award in Nigeria. She was the first female Nigerian inducted as Fellow, African Academy of Sciences. Prof. Babalola made history in again 2017 by becoming the first female Pharmacist Professor appointed as Vice Chancellor in Nigeria, being Chrisland University, Abeokuta.

Established in 2015, the varsity which had about 57 students before Babalola came on board in November 2017 currently boasts more than 1000 students. Serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the university, overseeing both the administrative and academic activities of the institution, Babalola’s Midas touch has transformed the school in huge dimensions with trailblazing achievements records of the current Vice-Chancellor. The University with two Colleges – the College of Arts, Management, and Social Sciences, and the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, but upon becoming VC, Babalola championed full accreditation of nine (9) programmes (Business Administration, Economics, Accounting, Criminology & Security Studies, Psychology, Computer Science, Political Science, Microbiology and Biochemistry) presented for the 2018 NUC Accreditation. Three programmes (Mass Communication, Banking and Finance, and International Relations) that were presented for NUC accreditation in 2021 got full accreditation also in 2021.

Chrisland University now has Part-Time programmes which took off in 2021, including Certification and Diploma Programme in Criminology and Security Studies. It is also an accredited center for Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and Joint Universities Preliminary Board (JUPEB) examinations. In 2021, the College of Basic Medical Science was established and the College houses departments such as Nursing, Physiotherapy, Public Health and Medical Laboratory Science while in 2022, the College of Law was verified by the National Universities Commission (NUC). Presently, the University runs four Colleges which are College of Arts, Management and Social Sciences, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, College of Basic Medical Sciences and College of Law.

These academic achievements is Babalola being true to her words of fulfilling the vision of the school to becoming a world-class University, renowned for intellectual freedom, ethical standards, research, community service and the outstanding training of a new generation of leaders. As the Vice Chancellor and the recipient of over 25 fellowships, awards, and grants across the globe, Babalola was announced the winner of the 2018 Annual May & Baker Professional Service Award in Pharmacy during the opening ceremony of the 91st Annual National PSN Conference on 30 October, 2018, held at the International Conference Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State, and witnessed by several distinguished pharmacists and guests at the colourful occasion. With the inclusion of this prestigious award, she has successfully stamped her name in the league of May & Baker Professional Service Award winners in Nigeria. Also in 2018, she was named by Silverbird TV as one of the 16 prominent Nigerian women who have excelled in Science and Research.

On Thursday 3rd October 2019 received the first ever Gold Award of Excellence on quality health care at the main auditorium of Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Osun State. Furthermore, she was one of the recipients of the prestigious African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Awards for Scientific Excellence Programme, 2019 Edition in recognition of Professor Babalola's numerous contributions to development in Africa through her groundbreaking and award-winning research works. The award which came with a prize of USD20,000, was presented at the African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government, which took place on 10 February 2020, in Addis Ababa. She was last year inducted as a Fellow of the Institute of Public Analysts of Nigeria (IPAN).

Prof. Babalola’s academic strides of placing Chrisland varsity on the global stage began to yield as the school produced 10 first-class graduates out of 91 graduates at her convocation last year. At the event, all graduating students of the institution were also issued with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship to support their degree certificate upon the VC’s declaration that the varsity was producing graduates who are entrepreneurs, self-reliant and creating employment for others in various sectors of Nigeria’s economy. She noted that the students had been trained and equipped to be wealth creators and employers of labour. Moreover, the varsity students keep shinning across globe with record-breaking feats like clinging the first price of the 9th Annual Information Technology Development Programme Organised by Nigeria Computer Society Ogun State Chapter; and being one of the five librarians selected as 2019 IFLA/OCLC Fellows. In other instances of academic prowess of the varsity, in April 2024, the Chartered Institute of Administration inducted Chrisland University Students who had performed excellently at the professional examination conducted by the institute. Also, an inaugural law dinner held at the university was well attended by luminaries from various shades of the legal profession in Nigeria.

Besides academic developments of the institution by the Babalola-led administration, the school has records of physical facilities and structures. Under Babalola’s administration, a new gym facility, aimed at helping the university community engage in physical exercise, was launched; a Statistical Consulting Center set up by an Associate Professor from the University of Lethbridge, Canada and Canergie Fellow under the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program, Dr Olu Awosoga, aimed to teach and guide students and researchers on the statistical aspects of research, and to also advance research in the University, was commissioned. A staff canteen, being part of the University’s commitment in ensuring comfort and well-being of staff members, was also commissioned, among many other laudable achievements.

Babalola is one of 10 most influential female scientists in Nigeria. She was also selected as the only African member, Strategy Working Group (SWG), joint Committee of International Council for Science (ICSU) and International Social Science Council (ISSC) in France.