Dr Elke Sokoya

Senior Lecturer

College of Medicine and Public Health

place Flinders Medical Centre Building (6E:136)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Dr Sokoya obtained her undergraduate degree and PhD from James Cook University, Townsville. She then moved to the United States where she undertook postdoctoral research training at Baylor College of Medicine in the area of cerebrovascular regulation in health and disease. After spending 13 years in the US, Elke returned to Australia where she established the Cerebrovascular Research Laboratory. Over the next 10 years, her research focussed on understanding the mechanisms contributing to endothelial dysfunction in the brain and was aimed towards developing therapeutic strategies to improve cerebrovascular health. A standout finding was that disruption of the gut microbiota led to pronounced cerebral endothelial dysfunction. During this time, Elke played a key role in undergraduate teaching of medical science, cardiovascular physiology and histology and was the course coordinator of the Bachelor of Medical Science degree between 2016 and 2018.

Her own family’s health challenges have led to an acute awareness of the epidemic of chronic disease and an understanding that health can be restored when the underlying cause of disease is targeted. This was the impetus of changing her research direction and establishing the Chronic Disease Research Laboratory. The goal of her research team is to identify the root cause of chronic disease and to test clinical therapies and interventions that support patient health and recovery.

An Honours research project to establish a leaky gut biomarker panel in rheumatoid arthritis is available in 2022. Honours scholarships are available.

Lab website: https://elkesokoya.wixsite.com/cdrlab

Qualifications

BSc (Hons), James Cook University

PhD, James Cook University

Graduate Certificate in Education (Higher Education), Flinders University

Honours, awards and grants

Recognition of Teaching Excellence GEMP1 PBL Tutor

International Neurotrauma Society Young Investigator Award

Australian Postgraduate Research Award (APRA)

G.N. Richards Medal in Chemistry

Key responsibilities

Senior Lecturer in Human Physiology

Head of Chronic Disease Research Laboratory

Bachelor of Medical Science Course Coordinator (2016-2018)

Teaching Program Director, Biomedical Sciences (2017-2019)

Teaching interests

medical science, histology, cardiovascular physiology

Topic coordinator
MDSC1102 Skills for Medical Scientists 1
MMED1007 Histology
Topic lecturer
MMED1007 Histology
MDSC1102 Skills for Medical Scientists I
MMED2931 Cardiovascular Physiology
Supervisory interests
Autoimmune diseases
Chronic disease
Intestinal epithelial biology, dietary factors
Micronutrients
Higher degree by research supervision
Current
Associate supervisor: DDAH inhibition and angiogenesis (1)