This article attempts to select ten out of the over 5000 prolific Nigerian doctors working in the United States of America. This list exclude the veterans like Professor Ferdinand Ofodile and Dr Chukwuma Okadigwe.
1 Dr Samuel Achilefu
Dr Samuel Achilefu, is a Nigerian -born Scientist and medical researcher who invented high-tech infrared goggles to enable surgeons to see cancer cells during surgery.
He is the Professor of Radiology and Vice Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine. He holds joint appointments as a professor of Medicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering. He currently serves as the Director of the Washington University Molecular Imaging Center.
Achilefu is a world-renowned specialist in the development and use of light-sensitive drugs for cancer detection, imaging, and therapy. He also discovered a novel treatment paradigm for cancer using a special type of light and non-pharmacological doses of drugs to selectively trigger cancer cell death without harming healthy tissue. These and many other innovations have resulted in 59 issued US patents.
- Dr. Bankole A. Johnson
He is a licensed physician and board-certified psychiatrist throughout Europe and the United States who served as Alumni Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the University of Virginia. He is a respected global authority in psychiatry, substance use, psychopharmacology, neuroscience, psychopharmacology of medications for treating addictions.
In 2002, he received the Distinguished Senior Scholar of Distinction Award from the National Medical Association.He was inducted into the Texas Hall of Fame in 2003 for his contributions to science, mathematics, and technology. In 2004, Johnson accepted an appointment to serve as Alumni Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatric and in 2019 he was named as a recipient of the American Society of Addiction Medicines (ASAM) Brinkley Smithers Distinguished Scientist Award.
- Dr Obinna Chukwudi Igwilo
Dr. Obinna Chukwudi Igwilo, From Abia State is a pioneer of the robotic surgery, which he had been working on since 2014. He cemented Africa’s place in the field of medicine after performing groundbreaking first major robotic surgery in the United States of America. Dr Igwillo is an Assistant Professor of Medicine with Campbell University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Igwilos robotic surgery remains a historic event being the very first to be performed in the 80 years history of Fayetteville VAMC.
4.Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye
Dr. Akinboboye is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease and Sleep Medicine. He is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York. He is also the Medical Director of Queens Heart Institute/Laurelton Heart Specialist P.C. in Rosedale, Queens, New York.
The award-winning nuclear cardiologist is listed among the top doctors in the United State by leading US medical publications. Dr. Olakunle Akinboboye is a member of the American Board of Internal Medicines (ABIM) Council and he is the first black Chair of the Cardiovascular Disease Board
5. Dr. Oluyemi Badero
Olurotimi John Badero is recognised as the world’s first and only fully trained cardio-nephrologist (heart and kidney specialist). He performed the first trans-radial cardiac catheterization and coronary angioplasty at CMMC Hospital Mississippi and has authored many peer-reviewed journals.
Over the years , Badero has become one of the Nigerian-American most celebrated Doctors as well as as one of the best Cardiologist, Nephrologist in United States of America.
Presently , Dr Badero is the Executive Director, Cardiac Renal & Vascular Associates. He is also the Medical Director of St. Joseph Hospice and also Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, at the State University of New York Health Sciences Center in Brooklyn. He is the President and CEO, Cardiac Specialists of Brooklyn, LLC
For his outstanding work and medical contributions, he has been recognized in the US, UK, and Africa .Among his numerous recognition includes: The Association of Black Cardiologists scholarship award for the Best Cardiology Fellow in the U.S.Few years ago, the 108th session of the US Congress praised Baderos outstanding accomplishments in the field of medicine, and one of the very few African-American specialists in his field.
6.Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye
Nigerian Surgeon Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye is renowned for removing baby from Her Mothers womb, operated on her tumor and returned her back .The operation was carried on the baby at 23 weeks. The baby healed and continued to grow until she was born again at 36 weeks.
Years later , he was appointed as the surgeon-in-chief at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio, one of the largest and most comprehensive pediatrics hospitals and research institutes in the World
7.Oluseun Alli
Oluseun Alli a Nigerian doctor with Novant Health Presbyterian Hospital is the first health expert to implant patients with Watchman 100device
The device is inserted into patients to help them deal with stroke .The device has been hailed for saving lives and has been implanted in almost 1 million people around the world in a one-time procedure.
8[b].Dr Godwin Maduka [/b]
Dr. Godwin Maduka, a billionaire Nigerian-American doctor based in the United States of America.He is the Owner/CEO and Medical Director of the Las Vegas Pain Institute & Medical Center, the largest pain treatment center in Nevada. He was certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology in 1998 and fulfills the role of Medical Doctor for the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners.
According to records, Maduka bought seven residential properties in Nevada for more than $7 million and spent nearly $4 million on the two buildings that house the Las Vegas Pain Institute, where he employs 80 people. He has also built a 17-storey building, edifice, which is expected to be equipped with state-of-the-art facilities in medical science and will be the first of its kind in Africa. There are calls from his people in Anambra to contest for the 2021 Governorship seat especially as he has empowered alot of indigenes across the state and donated multi-million dollar structures to the state government.
9.Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu
Bennet Ifeakandu Omalu is a Nigerian American physician ,forensic pathologist, and neuropathologist who was the first to discover and publish findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players. He later became the chief medical examiner for San Joaquin County, California, and is a professor at the non-pharmacological doses of drugs to selectively trigger cancer cell death without harming healthy tissue. These and many other innovations have resulted in 59 issued US patents.
10.Dr. Nwando Olayiwola
Dr. Nwando Olayiwola is a family physician, as well as an Associate Director of the Center for Excellence in Primary Care and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at University of California, San Francisco.
Prior to this, Dr. Olayiwola served as the Chief Medical Officer of the largest Federally Qualified Health Center system in Connecticut, Community Health Center, Inc. (CHCI)
Since 2007, Dr. Olayiwola has been named one of America’s Top Family Doctors by the Consumers Research Council of America annually. In October 2008, she was one of three physicians in the nation to receive the Emerging Leaders Award from the Family Medicine Education Consortium . In the summer of 2011, Dr. Olayiwola was named one of the Top 40 Physicians Under 40 by the National Medical Association before the age of 40”.
She is presently the Chief Clinical Transformation Officer of RubiconMD, a leading technology company that provides electronic consultations. She currently provides clinical care at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s Family Health Center.
