Overview
I am a neurosurgeon and public health physician with experience as a clinical and hospital leader in resource-limited settings. My research focuses on eliminating disparities in healthcare access and neurosurgical capacity building. My practice as the sole neurosurgeon in a 14-hospital health system in Abuja, Nigeria, exposed me to the overwhelming disparities and inequities in the availability and distribution of neurosurgical services, workforce, training, technology, infrastructure, and financial resources. More particularly, I witnessed the significant negative physical, functional, and psychosocial impact neurosurgical pathologies had on many patients, most of whom presented in late stages of their disease due to an interplay of patient-, provider- and health system-related barriers. This inspired me to enroll in the Master of Science (MSc.) in Global Health program at the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) where I built on my experiences and acquired research and analytical skills that have prepared me to engage in health policy and systems strengthening research.
Upon coming to Duke, I engaged with the Duke Global Neurosurgery and Neurology (DGNN) division, a multinational and multidisciplinary team, which is dedicated to neurosurgical capacity building through focused training, technological transfers, research and research capacity building, and service delivery. My work with the DGNN, since 2019, included various global neurosurgery projects that have been impactful on neurosurgical care and resource distribution worldwide. For my MSc. thesis, I evaluated the neurosurgical training and workforce in Africa and created linear and exponential models for projecting neurosurgical workforce growth trends in various countries and regions up to the year 2030. This inspired the DGNN-led 2020-2021 Neurosurgery Bass Connections team to use the Monte Carlo algorithm to project neurosurgical workforce growth in six East African countries.
I, subsequently, assumed a Research Scholar position in the Duke Department of Neurosurgery and DGNN in June 2021 and transitioned to an Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery in September 2023. I am also an Affiliate Faculty of the DGHI, Director of Neurosurgery Research for the DGNN, Course Director of the Evidence Based Clinical Practice course in the Duke School of Medicine Master of Biomedical Sciences (MBS) program, and Course Director of the Global Health Systems Development course in the Duke undergraduate FOCUS program. In my current roles, I lead several DGNN research endeavors and coordinate the division's nascent collaboration with neurosurgical institutions in Nigeria. Our comprehensive mixed-methods review of neurosurgical practice, training, and research in Nigeria, which I lead as PI, is the subject of a 13-manuscript World Neurosurgery Special Issue, currently in press. This work also evaluated the access and systems of care for major neurosurgical conditions, including neurotrauma, pediatric neurosurgery, neuro-oncology, spinal neurosurgery, and vascular neurosurgery. Another project, on which I am the PI, is developing a computational algorithm that models neurosurgical workforce projections, accounting for proximal and distal factors, as well as model perturbations by policy manipulations. This innovative approach will influence health system policies on neurosurgical workforce, training, and resource allocation, with concomitant effect on neurosurgical service delivery. For 3 successive years, I am the PI on a Duke University Bass Connections-funded project, "Building Sustainable Neurosurgical Systems", which is assessing barriers to neurosurgical service delivery, triage, and research productivity in Africa. Furthermore, I am the PI on a Trent Foundation-funded project assessing the socioeconomic impact of the neurosurgical continuum of care on patients and caregivers in Nigeria. Finally, I am currently the Duke sub-award PI on the NIH/University of Indiana-funded R21 project: “Blood-Biomarkers and Risk Factors of Acute Brain Injury associated with Neurodisability in Ugandan Children [BRAIN-Child]” and a co-investigator on the NIH-funded R21 project: "Assessment of Neural Tube Defects Among Newborns in Uganda: A study of Prevalence, Risk Factors, and the Role of Gene-Environmental Interactions [NTDs in Uganda]".