ASCAF Port Harcourt 24: Introducing our Guest Speakers at the Presidential Symposium on Pushing the Frontiers in Subspecialization in Nigeria

Professor Eugene E Okpere obtained the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Ibadan Medical School, Ibadan in 1973. He had his postgraduate medical training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, Nigeria and St. Mary’s Hospital Manchester, United Kingdom between 1975-79 culminating in the acquisition of the Member of the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 1979 and Fellowship of the Nigerian Post-graduate Medical College in 1981.

He was the Chief Medical Director, University of Benin Teaching Hospital from 2004 to 2009. During his tenure as CMD, the hospital recorded unprecedented growth and improvement in the quality, variety and volume of services rendered. The number of beds increased from 420 to 600. This resulted in an over 300 % increase in internally generated revenue; outpatient attendances; immunizations; operations; and an average bed occupancy of 80%.  The UBTH became the first public institution in Nigeria under the Ministry of Health to establish a successful in-vitro-fertilization programme. Following the appropriate human development training programmes in Nigeria, India, Ghana and Egypt the hospital also commenced sub-specialization services of laparoscopic surgery, Open cardiac surgery, Prenatal diagnosis, Bone Marrow Transplant, Renal Transplant and Neonatal Intensive Care.

Professor Okpere is a recipient of numerous scholarships, research grants and awards. He has over 80 publications in local and international journals and has authored four books.

Professor BB Shehu was born in Birnin Kebbi, Kebbi State of Nigeria.  He obtained the MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) from the Faculty of Medicine of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1982. Professor Shehu had his basic training as a Neurosurgeon in the United Kingdom where he obtained the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland in July 1989.

He has also served in the following capacities, Pioneer Medical Director to Federal Medical Center Birnin Kebbi 1999 to 2002. Chief Medical Director and Chief Executive Officer of Usmanu Danfodiyo Teaching Hospital, Sokoto from 2002 to 2010. Chief Medical Director/Chief Executive Officer, National Hospital Abuja from June 2010 to May 2014. Provost, College of Health Sciences, Federal University Birnin Kebbi from 2015 to 2017. Vice Chancellor, Federal University Birnin Kebbi from 2017-2022

Professor Shehu has made substantial contributions to organized neurosurgery at national, regional and international levels, and currently serves as President of Continental Association of African Neurosurgical Societies (CAANS) and 2^nd Vice-President of the World Federation of Neurological Surgeons (WFNS). He is currently the Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Medical and Health Science Katsina.

He attended Penn State University for his undergraduate education and obtained his Doctor of Medicine degree at St. George’s University School of Medicine in 1986. Pennsylvania, where he completed a residency training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.  Professor Adeleke then became an Attending Physician in the Emergency Department of Crozer Chester Medical Center and Sacred Heart Hospital, both in Chester, Pennsylvania.  He pursued fellowship training in Cardiovascular Medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center from 1994 – 1997, obtained his Board Certification in Internal Medicine in 1996 and in cardiovascular diseases in 1998.

Prof. Adeleke started the Tri-State Cardiovascular Institute in Wilmington, Delaware.  He founded the First State Diagnostic Center, Peninsula Medical Associates and Wilmington Cardiovascular Associates, all reputable industry brand leaders.  For over ten years, he was the Chair of the Division of Cardiology and Director of the Interventional Cardiovascular Laboratory at the St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington and program leader in Interventional Cardiology at the Christiana Care Health Services, both in Delaware.  He resigned his appointments in 2015 out of a passionate personal conviction to take up a new frontier mission of pioneering Interventional Cardiology in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Having participated in several medical research projects with outstanding publications and procedural non-invasive surgical innovations and leading out many successful and highly-impacting medical missions in Africa, South America and the Caribbean, Prof. Kamar Adeleke was appointed to a professorial chair of Medicine and Cardiology.  He was chair the Division of Cardiology at the Benjamin S. Carson School of Medicine, Babcock University, Chief, Division of Cardiac Catheterization and Interventional Laboratory at University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, where he has also pioneered the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship program as a capacity-building process for Nigerian cardiologists and He is currently the President/CEO of Tristate Healthcare System and the Provost, Tristate College Of Health and Allied Medical Sciences of Hillside University Of Science and Technology, Oke-mesi Ekiti state.

Professor Kadiri graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree from the University of Ibadan in 1977. He holds the Fellowships of the West African College of Physicians, National Postgraduate Medical College, and the Royal College of Physicians of London and the degree of Doctor of Medicine of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (MD). He is a Consultant Nephrologist and served as Professor of Nephrology at the University of Ibadan and UCH, Ibadan. He was the Head, Department of Medicine, UCH, Ibadan/UI from 2003-2006, Chairman of the College of Medicine Curriculum Committee from 2010-2013, sub-Dean (undergraduate), Warden of Alexander Brown Hall and Inaugural Lecturer in 2006. He retired recently as a Professor of Nephrology from the University of Ibadan. He was President of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology 2002-2004, and Chair of the Nephrology sub-specialty at the Faculty of Internal Medicine, National Post-Graduate Medical College of Nigeria. Professor Kadiri has been actively involved in residency training over the years and has supervised over thirty dissertations on Nephrology/Hypertension. He was one of the key resource persons instrumental to the introduction of standard examination assessment methods at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria where he has been an examiner since 1991. He is a fellow of the Nigerian Association of Nephrology, International Society of Hypertension, Academy of Medical Specialties and the Nigerian Academy of Medicine. His research interests include kidney and hypertension, epidemiology of hypertension, diabetes and kidney and acute kidney injury, and he has collaborated in local and international projects and published with others locally and internationally. In related endeavours, he acted as an adviser to the WHO and member of the ISH/WHO guidelines group from 2001-2003, and later served as the Chairman of the guidelines development committees of both the Nigerian Hypertension Society and the Nigerian Association of Nephrology. These committees have produced guidelines for the management of hypertension and chronic kidney disease respectively, in Nigeria. As a member of the Africa Regional Advisory Group of the International Society of Hypertension, 2015-2019, he participated in hypertension training and the formulation of programmes in Africa. In other areas, he is a reviewer for many journals, examiner and assessor to many universities and bodies within and outside Nigeria, a member of various accreditation panels and invited speaker to meetings within and outside the country. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of both the Nigerian Association of Nephrology and the Nigerian Hypertension Society.