Grace Oladunni Taylor (also known as Grace Oladunni Lucia Olaniyan-Taylor; born 24 April 1937) is a

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

, formerly at

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

, Nigeria. She was the second woman to be inducted into the

Nigerian Academy of Science The Nigerian Academy of Science is the official science academy of Nigeria. The academy of science was established on 18 January 1977, as an association of Nigeria's foremost scientists, but incorporated in 1986. It is the apex scientific organ ...

and the first African awarded a L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.

Early life and education

Grace Oladunni Lucia Olaniyan was born in Efon-Alaiye, Ekiti State, Nigeria, to Elizabeth (née Olatoun) and R. A. W. Olaniyan. Between 1952 and 1956, she was a student of the Queen's School in Ede in the

Osun State Osun State (; yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Ọ̀ṣun), occasionally known as the State of Osun by the state government, is a state in southwestern Nigeria; bounded to the east by Ekiti and Ondo states, to the north by Kwara State, to the south by Ogun S ...

. She enrolled for her tertiary studies in 1957 at the Nigerian College of Arts and Science in

Enugu Enugu ( ; ) is the capital city of Enugu State in Nigeria. It is located in southeastern part of Nigeria. The city had a population of 820,000 according to the 2022 Nigerian census. The name ''Enugu'' is derived from the two Igbo words ''Énú ...

and in 1959 transferred to the University College of Ibadan (now Ibadan University). Olaniyan graduated with honors in 1962 with a degree in chemistry.

Career and research

Following completion of her degree, she immediately went to work at the Regional Agricultural Research Station (now the

National Root Crops Research Institute The National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State is an agricultural research institute in Nigeria. Its origins can be traced back to an experimental farm established at Moor Plantation, Ibadan on January 1, 1923 by the Nigerian Depar ...

) at Moor Plantation in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

. In 1963, she was hired as a research assistant in the Department of Chemical Pathology at Ibadan University and earned her doctorate in Chemical Pathology in 1969. In 1970, she was hired by the university as a

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

and then in 1975, she served as a visiting research Fellow at the Northwest Lipid Research Laboratory in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. She returned to Ibadan University and was promoted to

Senior Lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this concep ...

in 1975 and in 1979 promoted to

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. By 1979, when she began publishing, she had married Professor Ajibola Taylor. In 1980, she served as a visiting scientist at the Metabolic Research Unit of the

University of West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...

and then in 1984, Taylor was promoted to full professor of Chemical Pathology at Ibadan University. That same year, she returned for a second research fellowship to the Northwest Lipid Research Laboratory in Seattle and also completed a posting as a visiting scientist in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

at the Department of Chemical Pathology. In 1990, Taylor was hired as an associate professor at the

University of Zimbabwe The University of Zimbabwe (UZ) is a public university in Harare, Zimbabwe. It opened in 1952 as the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and was initially affiliated with the University of London. It was later renamed the University o ...

School of Medicine in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

and taught in the Department of Pathology. In 1991, she returned to Ibadan University where from 1991 to 1994 she was Head of Department of Chemical Pathology and served as an honorary Consultant at the University College Hospital, Ibadan. She retired in 2004 but continued to lecture at Ibadan in the Department of Chemical Pathology. Her specialty was the analysis of

lipid Lipids are a broad group of naturally-occurring molecules which includes fats, waxes, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, E and K), monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others. The functions of lipids include ...

s in cardiovascular disease and her comparison of lipid metabolism confirmed that cholesterol levels are not a product of race, but rather diet and exercise levels. She was awarded numerous honors for her research, including the Shell-BP Scholarship in Chemistry, a

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

Fellowship, the Fulbright–Hays Fellowship, a

Ciba-Geigy Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

Fellowship, and the Association of African Universities Fellowship. Taylor was inducted into the

in 1997, as the second woman to have ever been honored as an inductee. In 1998, the L'Oréal-UNESCO prize was launched to award one woman from each of five regions—Africa and Arab states, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, North America—for their scientific achievement and contributions to improving humanity. Taylor was the African recipient in the inaugural honorees of the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science, becoming the first African to receive the award. In 2012, she was honored by the Ekiti State Government for her contributions to mentoring and teaching medical students.

Selected works

* * * * * *Taylor, G. O. (1971). Serum triglycerides and fatty acids in kwashiorkor. ''The American journal of clinical nutrition'', ''24''(10), 1212–1215. *Taylor, J. Communities of practice: A way of leading. ''Teaching and Learning'', 40. *Cheraskin, E. "If High Blood Cholesterol Is Bad—Is Low Good?." ''Journal of orthomolecular medicine'' 1.3 (1986): 176–183. *Bock, U. (2000). The Institutionalization of Women's Studies at German Universities at the End of the Century. ''European Education'', ''32''(4), 14–32.

References

External links

WorldCat Publications list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Grace Oladunni 1937 births Living people Nigerian women scientists Nigerian women biologists Nigerian women chemists Nigerian biochemists Nigerian women writers University of Ibadan faculty L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates 20th-century women scientists 21st-century women scientists Yoruba women scientists Yoruba women academics Nigerian expatriate academics in the United States Nigerian expatriates in Jamaica Nigerian expatriates in Zimbabwe People from Ekiti State Nigerian women academics Queen's School, Ibadan alumni 20th-century Nigerian women writers 20th-century Nigerian writers Yoruba women writers 21st-century Nigerian women writers Yoruba people