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Latunde Odeku: 1st Nigerian neurosurgeon with great feats in medical science

Monday, October 14, 2019 at 8:03 AM by Joseph Omotayo

- Latude Odeku, a Nigerian who is accomplished in the field of medical sciences, is the first neurosurgeon in West Africa

- According to his public profile, he was trained at Howard University where he first studied zoology before he became a medical doctor

- In 1962, he came back to the country and was a senior faculty member of University of Ibadan

Latunde Odeku is another Nigerian whose life achievement ought to be celebrated as he was the first Nigerian neurosurgeon who was trained in the US.

According to his public profile on Wikipedia, he was also the person who pioneered neurosurgery in Africa.

He was born in 1927 in Lagos and died in London, 1974. Odeku attended Methodist Boys High School before he went to Howard University for his degree in Zoology.

In 1954, he was given a scholarship to study medicine at the same institution, becoming a medical doctor.

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Latude Odeku is the pioneer of neurosurgery in Nigeria who has served both in the US and Nigeria. Photo source: Wikipedia
Source: UGC

Odeku got the appointment to be the instructor of neuroanatomy and neurosurgery at the College of Medicine in Howard. Later in his life, he was given several appointments in the US which included two faculty positions.

In 1962, he came to University of Ibadan and was made a senior faculty member of the institution.

It should be noted that he was behind the establishment of the National and West African Postgraduate Medical Colleges and started the same processes at the UI College of Medicine, a practice that is done in all Nigerian medical schools.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the owner of Microsoft and world-known philanthropist, Bill Gates, has recognised the feat of a Nigerian, Elvis Eze, in the fight against malaria.

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The tech giant said that the story of Eze is inspiring because he was once a victim of the scourge. He never allowed that to discourage him.