Awesome Nigerians....in Medicine
Celebrating Nigerian achievements in the field of medicine.
Nigerian-born Forensic pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu was the first to discover a degenerative disease associated with repeated brain trauma and the NFL, which he named chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The movie "Concussion" starring Will Smith is based on his story. He is currently the chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, Calif. and a professor in the University of California Davis Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Read more about Dr. Omalu....
Dr. Olurotimi Badero is the only combined cardiologist (heart) and nephrologist (kidney) doctor in the United States. He was educated in Nigeria, and went on to receive further training at SUNY and Yale. He is a board-certified cardiologist, nephrologist, interventional nephrologist, internist and nuclear cardiologist. More importantly, he is also the assistant pastor of Vine Chapel Church in Jackson, MS.
Nigeria beat ebola in 3 months. The Ebola virus was introduced into Nigeria on 20 July 2014 when an infected Liberian man arrived by aeroplane into Lagos. Within three months, Nigeria managed to contain the deadly virus with only eight deaths, and by October 20 2014 the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Nigeria ebola free. WHO commended the Nigerian government's strong leadership and effective coordination of the response.
Meet some of the medical team that treated the Ebola case in Nigeria. In total,
nine of them got infected with the virus; four of
their colleagues passed away.
Nigerian-born Dr. Samuel Dagogo-Jack was named President of the 75-year old American Diabetes Association (ADA) by its Board of Directors in January 2015.
Dagogo-Jack is currently a professor of medicine and Director, Division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism, and Director, clinical research center at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, where he holds the A.C. Mullins endowed chair in translational research.
Samuel Achilefu is a Nigerian-born Professor of Radiography and Biomedical engineering who currently serves as a Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine. In 2014, Samuel received the prestigious St. Louis Award for creating and developing a set of high-tech cancer-visualizing goggles with the aim of helping surgeons see cancer cells in real-time while operating on patients.
Michael Ugwueke rose from war-torn Nigeria to become CEO of Methodist LeBonheur’s.
He was recruited by Methodist in 2007 from a vice president post at Provena-Saint Joseph Michael Center in Joliet, Illinois, with the task of turning around Methodist South Hospital, a community anchor in Whitehaven serving Memphis' most health care-challenged ZIP code, 38109.
By mid-2009, he was promoted to oversee not only South, but Methodist North Hospital in Raleigh. By mid-2014, he had risen to his current position as president and chief operating officer.
Arriving in the United States with $4,000 at age 21, he earned a bachelor's in biology at Shaw University, a master's of public health at Emory University and became a doctor of health administration and leadership at Medical University of South Carolina.