Dr Adzu joined the services of NIPRD in February 1997 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and rose through the ranks: Junior Research Fellow (2001); Research Fellow II (2004); Research Fellow I (2008); Senior Research Fellow (2011); Associate Research Professor (2016), and; Director (Research) in 2024. This has enable him acquired adequate knowledge and skills in drug research and development, as well as project management and personnel administration.

He was born on 1^st February, 1969 at Midlu, Madagali LGA of Adamawa State. He attended: Kafin-Hausa Primary School (1975 – 1981); GSS Madagali (1982 – 1986), and; Federal University of Technology, Yola, graduating with B.Tech. (Chem.) in 1992. He also obtained M.Sc. and PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Ahmadu Bello University in 2001 and 2010 respectively, and Post-doctorate Junior certificate (PDJ) in Natural Products Pharmacology from Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiába (UFMT, Brazil) in Nov. 2015.

Part of his career training were in Pharmacogenetics of Drug Metabolism, at African Institute for Biomedical Science and Technology (AiBST), Nairobi (Kenya) office, in 2009; Natural Products Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), Karachi (Pakistan) in 2012; Herb-Drug Interaction assays, AiBST/STEP-B, Abuja, in 2012; Translational Medical Research and Multidisciplinary Integration, Cuiába (Brazil) in 2014; Pharmacological Models at Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Juazeiro (Brazil) in 2015, and Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Care for Developing Countries (China) in 2025. He is a recipient of several conference, training fellowships, and research grants amongst others.

He was a trainee at Biochemistry Division, National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI), Vom, Jos in 1990; served (NYSC) at Girls/St Ephraim SS, Owerrinta, and later Corpers Liaison Officer (CLO), Isiala-Ngwa South LGA, Abia State in 1993/1994; Senior Lecturer/Head, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Analysis Unit at Kampala International University, Uganda as part of the Nigeria Technical Aid Corps (TAC) (2006 – 2009), and Visiting Lecturer with the Department of Chemistry/Biochemistry, Adamawa State University, Mubi (March 2016 – 2021), where he taught courses in Pharmaceutical Analysis, Natural Products and Medicinal Chemistry; and successfully supervised many undergraduate as well as postgraduate students. He also served as external examiner.

Dr Adzu is a certified ISO 9001: 2015: Quality Management System (QMS) Auditor, served as a resource person to several ICCON Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) Workshops, maintains a membership and attended conferences of several professional bodies, and a peer-reviewer to Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Wiley, Academic and other title journals.

He has about 80 peer-reviewed publications; mainly in Natural Products Pharmacology, Ethnopharmacology, Herb-Drug Interactions and Pharmacokinetics; being his area of research. He also has a phytomedicine patent. As of October 2025, he has Google Scholar: Citations, 2634; h-index, 27; i10-index, 46; and Research Gate: 1,338 Research Interest Score; 2,258 Citations; 26 h-index.