Yusuf Danasabe Jobbi first dreamed of being a scientist when he experienced the unnecessary suffering and loss of family members as a young child. He found himself growing curious about their diagnoses of sickle cell disease and other rare genetic diseases and wondering if there was anything that could have been done differently with their treatment. The desire to make sense of these tragedies developed into an intense passion to study medical laboratory science and became a hematologist.
Jobbi earned his bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science in 2014 from Usmanu Danfodio University in Sokoto, Nigeria and his master’s degree in biotechnology in 2019 from Bayero University in Kano, Nigeria. In his current position as a medical laboratory scientist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, Nigeria, he is responsible for collaborating with non-governmental organizations on sickle cell awareness, supervising interns and staff in the hematology laboratory, creating standard operating procedures and performing quality controls for the lab, and performing routine hematological lab analyses of patients’ specimens. His current research interests are in sickle cell disease and other hematological and infectious diseases.
“I came to realize that, to effect the change I wanted to see in my community I would need to not only have the skills and knowledge of laboratory techniques, but to learn how to systematically use evidence-based approaches to identify and fill the important gaps in the care of children with sickle cell disease and other rare genetic and undiagnosed genetic diseases,” he says. “I am optimistic that the St. Jude Masters’ in Global Child Health program will offer me a new perspective and teach me the best practices in the field of molecular biology and genomics of sickle cell disease.”
Education
MS - Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria (2019)
BS - Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria (2014)