Antimicrobial resistance is often framed as a technical problem for scientists and policymakers. But the truth is far simpler — and far more unsettling: the choices made in clinics, pharmacies, farms, and homes every day are helping to decide whether life-saving medicines will still work in the future.

In this episode, we unpack why AMR isn’t just a laboratory or hospital issue, but a shared societal challenge. Drawing on expert insight and real-world experience, the conversation explores how misuse of antibiotics, gaps in regulation, weak infection prevention, and limited public awareness are accelerating resistance — especially in settings where access and oversight collide.

Crucially, the episode also looks forward. From community awareness and responsible prescribing to hygiene, sanitation, and people-centred primary health care, it examines what practical action can look like — not in theory, but in everyday life.

Because when antibiotics fail, it won’t just be health systems that feel it. It will be all of us.

My guest is Dr Ali Ahmed Yahaya, Team Leader of the Antimicrobial Resistance Unit at the World Health Organization African Regional Office.

Thank you for the journey in 2025, here is what will be the highlight of the new year 2026. Happy New Year.

Africa has the talent to power the world’s most advanced AI systems — so why is so much of that talent building elsewhere?

In this episode, we sit down with a postdoctoral researcher at a US Department of Energy national laboratory working at the intersection of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. He breaks down what supercomputers actually do, why they matter for science and society, and how African researchers are already shaping global AI — often without the infrastructure to do so at home.

From childhood curiosity and mentorship in Nigeria to working with AI, IoT, and citizen science to improve food security, this conversation explores how local knowledge, not just massive computing power, can drive innovation. We unpack Africa’s strengths in human capital, the challenges of outdated curricula and weak systems, and what it will really take to tackle brain drain, reform education, and build technology ecosystems that work locally and compete globally.

This is a wide-ranging discussion on AI in Africa, supercomputing, education reform, agriculture, health systems, and the urgent need to create environments where African talent can thrive — at home.

What if the way we understand shape, space, and structure could help us see disease differently?

In this episode of Paul Talks Science, I sit down with South African mathematician Dr. Cerene Rathilal to explore topology, a branch of mathematics that asks what stays the same even when things are stretched, twisted, or transformed, and why those ideas now matter far beyond the chalkboard.

Cerene traces her journey into mathematics, from a childhood shaped by curiosity to the moment she realised that being good at maths was not the same as being told you could become a mathematician. We talk about the quiet ways society steers talented students away from pure mathematics, and what it means to choose a path that is not always visible or celebrated.

The conversation moves from theory to impact, as Cerene explains how topological data analysis is being explored in areas such as breast cancer diagnosis, helping researchers look at medical images and data in entirely new ways. We also discuss why Africa has a growing role to play in advanced mathematical research, and how global scientific spaces can create mobility, collaboration, and confidence for African scholars.

Beyond the mathematics, this episode is about representation, mentorship, and making space. Cerene shares why she founded a programme to support girls pursuing STEM careers in South Africa, and what it takes to turn personal experience into collective opportunity.

This is a conversation about mathematics as a way of seeing, science as a human endeavour, and why abstract ideas often shape the real world more than we realise.

In this episode, we follow the journey of Hannah, a young Ghanaian researcher whose relationship with mathematics completely transformed once she discovered where the equations finally led. From early confusion in abstract university courses to finding clarity through disease modelling, Hannah shares the moments, mentors, and opportunities that reshaped her understanding of what math can do — and who it is for.

She talks openly about the gaps in math education across Africa, the power of exposure, and the role supportive supervisors played in helping her find her footing in biomedical data science. We explore how mathematical skills are opening new frontiers in health, AI, and problem-solving on the continent, and why she believes Africa’s unique challenges also represent its greatest opportunities.

This is a conversation about seeing math differently, building confidence as a young researcher, and imagining a future where African mathematicians shape solutions for their own communities — and beyond.

📌 Host: Paul Adepoju
👤 Guest: Prof. Moji Adeyeye – Director-General of NAFDAC (Nigeria’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control)

In this episode of Paul Talks Science, I sit down with Prof. Moji Adeyeye to explore her remarkable journey from practicing pharmacist to academic, regulator and advocate, and how she’s helping transform Nigeria’s medicines landscape — especially for children.

We dive into :

• Her reflections on the past challenges of paediatric malaria treatments and why “children are not just small adults” in drug development.

• The technical, environmental and regulatory hurdles of developing medicines that children will actually accept — and that can survive real-world conditions in low-resource settings.

• How NAFDAC is leveraging cutting-edge technology like GS1 track-&-trace and advanced detection devices to fight fake and substandard medicines in Nigeria’s open drug markets.

• The trade-offs regulators face between speeding access (as seen during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout) and maintaining trust, safety and thorough review.

• Her faith-inspired work supporting children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and the broader intersection of medicine, ethics and public health.

• Her vision for Nigeria: “Made in Nigeria, sold all over the world” — with quality, safety and efficacy at its core.

📖 Further reading: I recently wrote a deeper piece for Devex titled “Can Africa’s drug regulators be both fast and trusted?” which draws on this conversation and broader regulatory trends across the continent. Check it out: https://www.devex.com/news/can-africa-s-drug-regulators-be-both-fast-and-trusted-111147

🔔 Don’t forget to like, subscribe and hit the notification bell so you won’t miss future episodes where we bring together science, policy, innovation and human stories.

👇 Share your thoughts in the comments: What was the most surprising insight for you from this conversation? What do you think it will take to build regulatory systems in Africa that are both fast and trusted?

Season 3 kicks off with Professor Richard Sullivan (King’s College London) on why cancer outcomes depend less on shiny tech and more on end-to-end systems that actually work. We dig into affordability, widening inequalities, and why “reality-stratified” care beats one-size-fits-all blueprints.

Richard unpacks adaptive HTA and health-benefit packages, the limits of screening without treatment pathways, the UK’s own pressure points, and what equitable cancer control looks like in rural, fragile, and conflict settings.

We also talk financing—domestic resource mobilisation, the role of multilateral development banks, and why political commitment matters more than headlines.

Host: Paul Adepoju

Guest: Prof Richard Sullivan, Director, Institute of Cancer Policy, King’s College London

Companion read: Paul’s feature from this interview in The Lancet Oncology: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(25)00591-1/abstract

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In this episode of Paul Talks Science, Paul Adepoju sits down with Adam Aspinall, Senior Director of Access & Product Management at Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV). They discuss the science and strategy behind a groundbreaking new malaria drug for newborns and young children — the first of its kind. From how scientists reformulated existing treatments to meet the needs of infants, to the global regulatory pathways that made rapid approval possible, this conversation sheds light on the innovation, policy, and persistence shaping the future of malaria control.

As people living with HIV live longer, a new challenge emerges: how do we adapt treatment for an ageing population?

In this episode of Paul Talks Science, Paul Adepoju speaks with Dr Loice Achieng Ombajo of the Department of Clinical Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Nairobi, about research shaping the future of HIV care for older adults. Drawing on findings from two studies, Dr Ombajo explores the shift from three-drug to two-drug regimens, the growing burden of comorbidities such as kidney disease, diabetes and cancer, and the implications of long-term antiretroviral use.

The conversation also tackles why older adults are often overlooked in HIV research, the policy changes needed to protect this rapidly growing group, and what decades of treatment tell us about sustaining health into older age. From funding cuts to the promise of long-acting therapies, this episode examines what it really means to maintain the gains of the HIV response as populations age.

In this special episode of Paul Talks Science—the first in a series recorded during my visit to the Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell—I sit down with TURI Director Baskut Tuncak to unpack how economics is playing a pivotal role in driving safer chemical practices.

We explore the Institute's origins, the real-world impact of the Toxics Use Reduction Act, and how businesses are shifting away from hazardous substances—not because they're forced to, but because it makes economic sense.

Baskut also reflects on his global work as a UN Special Rapporteur and explains why TURI’s locally rooted, solution-focused model could be a blueprint for change far beyond Massachusetts.