A couple of weeks ago, the announcement of the appointment of US-based Nigerian Doctor, Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye as Surgeon-In-Chief at America’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio once more brought to the fore the emergence of scholars and professionals of African descent as forces to reckon with across the world. This announcement highlights the growing profile of Dr. Oluyoye who few years ago was part of a team that carried out a surgery on a baby in-utero in a Texas hospital in 2016. That was a medical feat as such had not been recorded anywhere before then. That great medical procedure was achieved by saving the baby’s life by taking her out of her mother’s womb at 23 weeks old, and cutting off the tumor, then placing her back into the mum’s womb safely. Such was the type of wire edge medical procedures the genius of Dr. Olutoye gets entangled with.
Dr. Olutoye received his medical degree from Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, in 1988 and his PhD in anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, in 1996. He completed his residency in general surgery at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University, and his fellowship in pediatric surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pa. Dr. Olutoye is a member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society and is a Fellow of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Surgeons; he is also a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons.
In his new role as the Surgeon-in-Chief, Dr. Olutoye will lead one of the largest children’s hospital surgery departments in the world. Through his leadership of 11 surgical departments, Dr. Olutoye will work to advance Nationwide Children’s common mission, philosophy and approach to excellence in patient care, dedication to outstanding clinical outcomes, commitment to academic excellence and education of the next generation of leaders in children’s surgery. This new appointment equally guarantees him a professorship and the E. Thomas Boles Chair of Pediatric Surgery at The Ohio State University (OSU) College of Medicine while serving as the primary surgical liaison between Nationwide Children’s and the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Speaking on this development, Dr. Richard J. Brilli, Chief Medical Officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Ohio said that the entire management and staff of the institution is tremendously delighted to welcome Dr. Olutoye to the Hospital to further elevate the visibility and reputation of one of the best overall children’s surgical programs in the country that, through its clinical care and research, is forging the future of children’s surgery. Dr. Brilli added that having a world-renowned fetal and pediatric surgeon join the Hospital’s leadership team will further advance Nationwide Children’s commitment to establishing a preeminent fetal surgery program.
Responding to his appointment, DR. Olutoye said that he was happy to be opportune to join such a great leadership team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital because of the institution’s highly respected and outstanding integrated research and clinical programs. Continuing, he said that the Hospital is a leader in improving pediatric health outcomes with a seminal work in healthcare quality and patient safety. This appointment according to him will offer him the opportunities to help build upon an already impressive “success of surgical services to help children around the country and increasingly around the world. I look forward to the privilege of leading and collaborating with this team in the next phase of our journey,” he noted.
Before joining Nationwide Children’s, Dr. Olutoye was the co-director of the Fetal Center and the immediate past president of the medical staff at Texas Children’s Hospital. While at Texas Children Hospital, he was a tenured Professor of Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics, and Chair of the Faculty Senate. Dr. Olutoye is bringing with him, specialized clinical expertise in fetal and neonatal surgery. Fetal surgeons according to medical analysts, work closely with obstetricians and maternal-fetal medicine specialists to provide exceptional care for babies who need surgery in-utero and to improve outcomes for a range of conditions such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia, spina bifida and other congenital anomalies.
Add to his much celebrated clinical expertise, Dr. Olutoye leads a well established research program which focuses on the role of the inflammatory response in scarless fetal wound healing, in-utero correction of severe congenital malformations, and the early detection of necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants.
Dr. Olutoye’s rise to medical stardom has been one of upward and forward. He was certified by the American Board of Surgery in Surgery and Pediatric Surgery. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the West African College of Surgeons. Dr. Olutoye is a member of the American Surgical Association, the American Pediatric Surgical Association and past president of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society.
Dr. Olutoye is truly blazing the trail in a profession that would lay solid foundation in a way that it will have a solid and very positive impact on upcoming African professionals.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.
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