Welcome
B.Sc · AMLSCN · Ph.D (Liverpool) · FWAPCMLS · FRSTM&H
A biomedical scientist and Quality-Assurance specialist with three decades bridging the laboratory bench, national health policy, and the page — where science speaks in both English and Hausa.
Currently Vice Chancellor, Tazkiyah University Kaduna
Three defining milestones
What are the important milestones that your journey recorded?
I will mention only three.
More than 30 years of learning, teaching and service in university systems.
Read the storyFrom childhood to date, my greatest aspiration has been to be a teacher. My pleasant moments in life are when teaching or when being taught. By Allah’s grace, I have served in university systems in Nigeria and abroad for over 30 years and held almost every position—from Assistant Lecturer to Professor of Medical Microbiology, and now Vice-Chancellor.
A career combining Medical Laboratory Sciences, academics and healthcare leadership.
Read the storyI found myself in the profession of Medical Laboratory Sciences, which I combined with academics and rose to the rank of Professor of Medical Laboratory Sciences. I also served as a consultant and lead on several healthcare projects in Nigeria and abroad.
Recognition for literary work that bridges science, English and Hausa.
Read the storyIn literary circles, I was honoured twice by the Association of Nigerian Authors for my contributions to literature in both English and Hausa. Today, I stand as the scientist who has produced more literary works in medical sciences in the Hausa language than anyone else in the world. Alhamdulillahi.
Biography
Faruk Sarkinfada was born in Chedi, Kano City, in July 1968. He trained as a microbiologist at Ahmadu Bello University and qualified as a Medical Laboratory Scientist before winning a Ford Foundation International Fellowship for his doctorate at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Over thirty years he rose to Professor of Medical Microbiology & Parasitology at Bayero University Kano, advised state and federal ministries of health on laboratory strengthening and quality assurance, and carried Nigeria’s diagnostic expertise to Eritrea, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. He has served as national consultant to Global Fund TB and malaria programmes and directed the Fleming Fund grant on antimicrobial-resistance surveillance in Nigeria.
Though a scientist, he has been tutored by eminent Islamic scholars in Kano and has spent a lifetime dissolving the wall between the laboratory and the library — publishing fiction, poetry, biography and philosophy in both Hausa and English, and founding the Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology in Hausa.
“Language barriers pose a great challenge to the understanding of science and technology education, particularly among Hausa-speaking communities in Northern Nigeria.” — Faruk Sarkinfada
Fields of expertise
Leadership & appointments
The journey
A distinguished career path spanning Kano, Liverpool, Abu Dhabi, and Kaduna.
Research interests
A One-Health lens runs through the work — connecting human, animal and environmental health in the fight against infection and resistance.
Selected works
A searchable selection from a corpus of 67 peer-reviewed articles, technical reports and conference papers spanning 1997 to 2026.
The author
Fiction, poetry, biography and philosophy — a bridge of language carrying science to the reader, in Hausa & English.
Honours & fellowships