MEDICAL ICON 1

DR EMMANUEL OLUSEGUN FASHAKIN

We begin the series on accomplished medical practitioners with Dr EMMANUEL OLUSEGUN FASHAKIN

Emmanuel Olusegun Fashakin was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and attended St. Gregory's College, Lagos, Nigeria, Nigeria's first Catholic high school, graduating as the student with the highest score in the School Certificate Examination in the school in that year. He was admitted to College at the prestigious University of Ibadan the same fall at the young age of 16 years.

Emmanuel graduated from the Medical School of the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan in June 1979 as the best graduate in a class of 188 winning among others: Sir Manuwa Gold Medal, Nigerian Medical Association Award for best graduate, The Dean's Prize, Distinctions in the subjects of Pathology and Pharmacology; and Departmental Prizes as best student in Pathology, Physiology, and Pharmacology. After internship at the State Hospital, Akure, Nigeria, and a one-year compulsory service at Toro Health Center, Toro, Bauchi State, Nigeria, Emmanuel returned to his alma mater at the College of Medicine in Ibadan and did a one year residency in Pathology between July 1981 and June 1982.

After a brief stint as a Medical Officer in primary care at St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, Emmanuel returned to academic studies, enrolling as a Surgery Resident at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria in February 1983. Emmanuel completed the surgical residency in four short years and passed all the examinations for the award of Diplomas of both the Nigerian Medical College of Surgeons and the West African College of Surgeons without dropping any examination - a record at the time. Emmanuel also passed the primary examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in an overseas examination conducted at the University Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana. Emmanuel was appointed Attending Surgeon and Lecturer in Surgery at the Obafemi University Ile-Ife, Nigeria at the young age of 31, the youngest person ever to attain such position.

Emmanuel emigrated to the United Kingdom in May 1989 and five weeks later, without any prior training in the British Isles, sat for and passed the Final Examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (the pass rate for the examination was 9-11%). Thus, Emmanuel became the very first person to be awarded the Fellowships of Nigerian Medical College of Surgeons, West African College of Surgeons, and a Royal College of Surgeons in the United Kingdom by examinations, passing all the eight examinations for the award of the Fellowships in record time and without failing any examination at any level.

Emmanuel immigrated to the United States in July 1993 after spending four years working in various hospitals in England. In view of the requirement for additional training before a Foreign Medical Graduate could be allowed to practice as a specialist in the US, Emmanuel changed to primary care and enrolled as a resident in Family Practice at the Jamaica Hospital in July 1993. Emmanuel broke the record for the school for the annual examination conducted for residents by the American Board of Family Medicine in 1995, scoring an all time high 99th  percentile. Emmanuel was appointed Chief Resident in 1995 and completed Family Medicine residency in July 1996.

Emmanuel established the Alpha-K Family Medical Practice P.C. on July 1, 1996, the very next day after completing the Family Practice residency, and has remained in practice of medicine since then. From that humble beginning, there are now five branches of Alpha-K Family Medical Practice in Queens and Brooklyn Counties in New York City, with almost thirty employees.

Emmanuel enrolled as an evening part-time student at the School of Law of St. John's University, Jamaica, New York in August 2003. Emmanuel placed first in his class in every semester examination since enrollment and in July 2004, was awarded the Dean's Scholarship, a sum of $10,000 applied to tuition, as the best student in the evening section. Emmanuel won the Dean's Scholarship every year thereafter, completing the hat-trick in August 2006. Emmanuel graduated magna cum laude from Law School in January 2007, with a GPA of 3.78, coming first and winning the CALI Awards in eleven courses taken in the Law School: Torts I, Property II, Torts II, Contracts II, Constitutional Law I, Business Organizations, Criminal Law, Appellate Advocacy, Family Law, Advanced Criminal Law Advocacy, and Trusts and Estates. Emmanuel took and passed the Bar Examinations in States of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all at the first shot, and is now a licensed Attorney and Counselor at Law, admitted to the State Bars of New York, New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Emmanuel has remained in active practice of Medicine and was awarded the prestigious Fellow, American Academy of Family Physicians in April 2012.

On April 5, 2013, the USCIS certified Emmanuel Fashakin as a CIVIL SURGEON to conduct Immigration Medical Examinations.

Emmanuel is a Pentecostal Christian, is a registered soccer referee in Nigeria, UK and the US, and plays the piano, guitar and violin. He is also an avid golfer with a handicap index in the low twenties.

For free medical advice, you can contact Dr Fashakin at: mdfash@aol.com
 BY OLUWATOSIN OGUNDOWOLE(MBBS in view, Lagos.)