Dr Esther Oludipe
A Community Pharmacist and development worker with 30+ years experience as a scientist, researcher, and educator
Community Lead
Dr Esther Oludipe is a Community Leader and Community Development worker, and a chair or director of multiple social ventures.
Esther has over 30 years experience in the areas of Youth Development, particularly Supplementary and Complementary Education, and Social Enterprising, a set of skills she lends across the community and non-profit organisations she heads.
Dr Oludipe is an expert in the area of Pharmacology, particularly Traditional and Complimentary Medicine. Esther has worked extensively on anti-oxidants from plant origin especially of the edible vegetables with a view towards promoting health awareness of the use of antioxidants in the prevention of over a hundred disease conditions based on oxidative stress in humans. These conditions range from the neurodegenerative to heart diseases, AIDS and Cancer.
Qualified Pharmacist and Lecturer & Researcher in Pharmacology
Dr Esther Oludipe has over 30 years post-qualification experience as a Scientist and Academic; she is a Visiting Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, a Part Time Lecturer at the Pan African University – Medicinal Plants Research and Drug Development, and has been a Lecturer and Researcher at King’s College, London). She is a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council and has authored several peer reviewed scientific papers and books.
As a scientist, Esther has received many Fellowships and awards for her research into Pharmacognosy, where she has conducted:
- Ethnobotanical Surveys
- Phytochemical Screening and Biological evaluations of ethnopharmacologically based recipes
- Isolation, purification and characterisation/structural elucidation of bioactive components from medicinal plants using techniques such as HPLC, Mass spec, NMR
- In-vivo and in vitro biological evaluations; Toxicological evaluations of bioactive constituents and extracts
- and Formulation studies and clinical trials
Head of Supplementary Education and Social Enterprising
Some notable projects from Dr Esther Oludipe's portfolio:
Dr Esther Oludipe is a Director at Making Education a Priority (MEaP), having specifically served as the Head of MEaP Academy Community Education Centre, heading two focus areas: Supplementary Education and Enterprising (specifically Social Enterprising).
As the head of Supplementary Education, Dr Oludipe is responsible for the leading the education of thousands of pupils and is one of the founders of MEaP Twilight Academy. She is often recognised for her educational leadership, including a nomination for Black supplementary school leader of the year at the FutureEd Awards 2023.
Her work with Employability is equally remarkable especially in her Social Enterprising focus. As a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs (Liverpool & London, UK), Dr Oludipe is responsible for developing dozens of social entrepreneurships across the community, not only educating the individuals but also helping them successfully set up their ventures and increase their reach. She notably secured key fund investment (2023) to develop the Highway Hope community café, recognising her work in developing social enterprises.
Founder and Chair of Highway Hope
Dr Esther Oludipe is the Chair of Highway Hope, a charitable incorporated organisation of which the Highway Hope supplementary schools have teamed up with other leading Manchester supplementary schools to form our MEaP consortium. Esther’s background as a scientist drives her passion for STEM subject teaching in the MEaP consortium and is also combined with her interest in community health and wellbeing. The social enterprise recognises her contribution, saying this for why the Key fund investees chose help the organisation to develop its community café:
