Ette's humble beginnings reach back to Nigeria, where as the youngest of 11 children, he decided his mission in life would be to alleviate human suffering. His mother, who was a nurse, taught him how Western and herbal medicines could be used to treat patients.

"I decided to pursue research so I could translate my findings into orthodox medicine. I love research, and I knew that I would be able to contribute by developing medicines," recalled Ette, whose first name, Ene, means "born to lead."

While working at the FDA, he served as the major author of a standards guide still used by the industry and the FDA called Population Pharmacokinetics Guidance for Industry. It's a study of how medicines affect the body. He was appointed an FDA consultant upon leaving the organization.

Ette currently is head of clinical pharmacology at Vertex Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge, Mass. "Our role is to design and execute clinical trials, collect data, analyze data, create models, transform what we have learned into medical knowledge and develop guidelines for dosing drugs. After a drug is introduced to market, we also monitor it to determine if adverse effects, hitherto unknown, can be explained by dosage and patient factors or the dosage may need modification," he said.

Now working in industry, Ette has a keen understanding of the meaning behind faster and cheaper. "It is my goal to keep coming up with new and innovative ideas for designing and analyzing drug trials, which will enable us to develop drugs faster and at a reduced cost," he said. In the long run, he believes this will make medications more affordable and accessible for those who need them the most.

Along with his research, Ette's work has been publicized in medical/pharmaceutical journals -- and he works diligently to push his innovative ideas. "I never offer the same solution twice. I always work to come up with something new," he said. "These are some of my self-imposed challenges: to always look for ways to raise my performance beyond where it is today and to impel myself to go for it all."

With six children at home with his wife, Esther, Ette keeps a positive and healthy outlook on his work life. "Each day I think about how I can apply my God-given wisdom to excel in what I do. This relates to job performance and mentoring for my staff of eight," he said.