Prof. Oladapo Ashiru’s name precedes him. He is an icon in the medical profession. He is an award-winning doctor. He is also a clear leader in his field of Medicine. He is a Professor of Anatomy and a Consultant Reproductive Endocrinologist who made history when he produced the 1st Test Tube baby in Africa, years back. He is a Professor who has produced many other Professors.
The big news is that Prof. is 70. But he does not look it. Over the last few years, Prof. has kept his pencil-slim frame-up till now and has always been very youthful in his ways. He is from the illustrious Ashiru family in Ijebu-Ode.
He clocked 70 a few weeks back and despite being a septuagenarian he has continued to contribute to the profession that has brought him fame and recognition. He is into private practice, as he has remained a Consultant to world bodies. He is the Chief Medical Director, of Medical Art Centre & Mart-Life Detox Clinic, Ikeja.
Through his scientific innovations in Reproductive Health, in In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), an Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) – the process of fertilization by extracting eggs, retrieving a sperm sample, and then manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, Professor Oladapo Ashiru (OFR), founder of Medical Art Centre; a specialized reproductive endocrinology and fertility centre based in Ikeja Lagos, has restored homes on the brink of collapse on account of childlessness; made “Infertile” men proud fathers and “Barren” women joyous mothers. He is an innovator like no other.
Ashiru’s initial breakthrough came in 1984 when he and his team produced the first IVF baby in Africa, and in 1986, they successfully delivered the first Test Tube Baby on the continent. They have not looked back since then.
Today, the centre can look back and count hundreds of babies it has produced, and numerous homes it has restored. At the Centre’s website, testimonies abound. Some say they had lost hope, others say it was a miracle. Prof Ashiru says: “Come And Have Your Baby.”
“If you have lived with your husband for 14 months and conception is not forthcoming you should visit the clinic for help to seek help early is the best way,” he once said in an interview.
“Through this, God has enabled us to achieve thousands of babies, thereby putting smiles on the faces of thousands of families.
“Nothing is unexplainable when it comes to helping childless couples to achieve pregnancy and have live babies. It is just that some causes of infertility require more effort in order to identify the cause.
“Electronic gadgets cause Infertility in men. They should avoid tight-fitted pants, heat from their laptop, taking it closer to their private part; avoid taking hot bath, sitting down for a long while. Those that work with chemical are also prone to have low sperm count. And also they should avoid environmental toxic and some hypertension drugs.”
For years he has been at the Vanguard of the promotion of Assisted Reproductive Technology and he has contributed a lot to the field of reproductive endocrinology.
He is a leading light in the medical science field, a trailblazer deserving of accolades. Through his researches, he proved that Exogenous Fsh (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) has a positive feedback on the release of Endogenous FSH, which is the basic science behind the use of Exogenous Gonadotropins (Pergonal, Metrodin and others) for extra follicular development, in infertility management and IVF cycles. Presently, his field of research is in Embryo Culture Techniques and Implantation Failure.
He had also successfully delivered Sickle Cell Free Baby through the Preimplantation Genetic Testing for single gene defect, also known as PGD/PGS.
He started his academic career here in Nigeria before he proceeded to the U.S. for his postgraduate degrees.
Ashiru has an MB.BS, from the University of Lagos; M.Sc and Ph.D from the Universities of Nebraska at Omaha, United States. He equally holds HCLD, FASN and FNSEM.
He was appointed Consultant Reproductive Endocrinologist to Lagos University Teaching Hospital in 1980 and Professor of Anatomy in 1983, making him the youngest appointed professor in Nigeria at the age of thirty-two. He was a Reproductive Endocrinologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Omaha in 1978.
He obtained a joint appointment at the departments of Anatomy and Obstetrics and Gynecology in the University of Illinois, Chicago at the Professorial level. He established two IVF programmes for the University in 1996 and became the pioneer director of the University based IVF program at Chicago that same year. It is currently one of the best IVF centres in the US. He has also established collaborations with several infertility centres internationally.
Ashiru obtained the licentiate of the American Board of Bioanalysis in High Complexity Laboratory Director HCLD (ABB) in 1997 (The American regulatory and licensing body for assisted reproduction technologies). He is the author of “Want a Baby,” a book that details the causes, management and treatment of infertility.
Last week, he spoke to CityPeople Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE & SUNDAY ADIGUN about his new life @ 70.
Below are excerpts of the interview.
How did you feel the day you turned 70?
I felt okay. I was happy that the day came to anyone. No matter how good you are, or how well you think you have cared for, yourself, every day you wake up, is the grace of the Almighty. So, to even wake up at 70, I think you feel happy. It even gives you the promise that you can still live many more years. You can see 80 and 90+ like my own parents did. That was the way I felt.
As you moved closer to 70, what was on your mind, what came to your mind?
As I moved closer to 70, I was thinking of what I had to do to celebrate. Before we had planned an elaborate event to go on a boat cruise, then, come back and do an academic symposium. I wanted all the people I had trained, all my associates to do something in Medical Science to show that day. I wanted to have a lecture then feast them. I wanted to have a Thanksgiving Service in the church. I wanted to have a dinner at the Twin Towers, by the beach at Victoria Island, in Oniru, Lagos. And then Covid-19 came, so we had to alter the plan. As the days came by, we felt if Covid-19 goes off we can have something but closer to the time, I realised that I was not going to do anything. I will just be thankful that the day came and passed. Then, my students at the College of Medicine who are now Professors in their own right, said they wanted to organise a symposium, they began to plan it. And as they were planning it Mak Foundation, that I am on their Advisory Board, they to wanted to have something along that. I mean Mak Pharmaceutical Company. Steadily, but surely it became a big symposium, including The Nigerian Fertility Society, which is the Association & Reproductive Health of Nigeria. It included the African Federation of Fertility Society. It included the International Federation of Fertility Society. It included the Anatomical Society of Nigeria. It included the International Federation of Anatomy Society and all other groups joined in to make it grand. Also, the Academy of Medical Medicine Specialities also joined. So, all the academic society I have been involved with, all joined. It was attended by close to over 300 people. It was well participated be people from San Francisco, by all the way to China, Japan, South Africa, Egypt people came in from all those places.
At 70, what lessons have you learnt in life? What lessons has life taught you?
Several. The 1st thing is that growing up, you must know what you want to become in life. If you know what you want to be you must be determined and be focused. Also you must be flexible, in terms of what life comes with and be ready to adapt. Growing up, I knew I wanted to be a Doctor or an Engineer. Those are the 2 things. But not Law because I wasn’t to good in Liberal Arts. So, I wasn’t going to do Law. It was either Medicine, or Law. Medicine because my mother was the 1st Nursing sister in Western Nigeria. So, I lived in an hospital environment, so, it would be very obvious that if I become a doctor I will help run her practice. She saw that someone like me will take over her centre. I also wanted to be an Engineer. But I went for medicine. Events happened that when I was in Lower 6, I was able to change and I decided I will go more for medicine than Engineering. So, I left Mathematics. At that time in Lower 6, the subjects I did were Physics, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. I dropped Maths to go for Medicine. I was good in those 4 subjects.
In Medical school, I had to specialise. As I was going through the various disciplines in Medical School, I was developing likeness for those subjects like Anatomy. I developed a likenes for Anatomy, so much so I was made a Teacher, a student demonstrator on Anatomy. I made extra money as a student, apart from the fact that I was also on the Federal Government Merit Award Scholarship, based on academic performance.
I served in the Navy and I enjoyed the experience. We used to cruise abroad. It was such a nice experience. That was a life I wanted to stay in the Navy. But I realised that I couldn’t stay because I would not become the Chief of Naval Staff.
If I had to be, I had to go to the Nigerian Defence Academy in which case I will be losing the rank; because my classmates who finished School Cert in 1966, who went to Defence Academy, straight away, were now Lieutenant Commanders at that time, and I am a Lieutenant. They were like Majors.
They were 2 ranks ahead of me.
At that time also I had met some people at the medical school who had told me that they will like me to study academy, because, at that time, that particular subject was being taught by foreigners, the British people, people from India & Pakistan. They told our VC & Provost then that they had to continue to bring in foreigners to teach anatomy because Nigerians do not understand anatomy. It was costing them money. The Provost then told me to go and study Anatomy that he will be very happy if I studied Anatomy. I did. I got a Scholarship. However, I had it in my mind that when I finish Anatomy, I will also go ahead to study Obstetrics & Gynecology. But it won’t be Anatomy alone simply because I had seen in the textbooks. I did research in Reproductive Medicine. My Ph.D. was in Anatomy, but I was specifically in Reproductive Endocrinology. By the time I finished my Master’s degree, I was asked to start teaching Endocrinology to resident doctors in the Obstetrics & Gynecology department. So, I did that.
I was invited back to Nigeria. I was appointed a Senior Lecturer at LUTH. Very soon, in 1980, I was made acting Head of Department. By 1982, they made an advert for the position of Professorship and I applied. So, I went from the position of Senior Lecturer straight to become a full professor I was young, I was 32 then. I was already acting H.O.D at 29. I was also a Consultant to the Teaching Hospital at that age of 29.
And people were thinking that when he becomes a Professor, he will then stop working. He will just be going round. But I said that I was not going to be that kind of Professor. I told them that my ambition is not to become a Professor. It is to develop more in Medical Science. So, I began to train people, though Research, and I was able to make a lot of contributions to science and to developing people because I always tell those around me then that a Professor is not known by what he professes alone, but what he professes and by how many professors he himself has trained, to assist to come up.
So, right now I have so many professors that can claim to be from that root.
Like how many?
We are talking about 20. They are now in different parts of the world. I wish to help many more.
You are an accomplished man. You still teach at 70. You write. You still do research. You still consult. You still see patients. How do you juggle all these roles?
I still teach. We have now started an Institute for Reproductive Medicine, which will now enable me to train more people and pass the torch to more people.
How do I juggle all these roles? I create time. If you have a need, there is a means to be available. And how do I feel? It doesn’t make me feel any different. It looks like a lot of achievement. But it doesn’t look like that to me. I just feel like what have I done? Deep down. I want to do more. I still want to do more. I am not yet satisfied, that I have reached the peak of where I can be or what I can do.
I am still looking up to higher horizons.
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