Chukwuedu Nwokolo

Chukwuedu Nathaniel II Nwokolopronunciation

Nwokolo was born on Tuesday, 19 April 1921 – at Amaimo, now located in Imo State: Nigeria, where his parents worked for Church Missionary Society as evangelists. He was the first male child amongst seven children His father: Nathaniel Ezuma Nwokolo, was a church teacher; and his mother was trained at the Niger CMS: Church Missionary Society Onitsha.^[12][13][14]

Education

Nwokolo started primary school at

After his internship at Lagos General Hospital, Nwokolo was posted from 1947 to 1949 at General Hospital Enugu.^[16][17]

In 1948, as the University College Ibadan was opening its teaching hospital temporarily at the Ibadan Adeoyo Hospital, the university made a request to the government for junior doctors to work as house officers. Nwokolo was the first of such assistant medical officers to be seconded in 1949.^[18] Nwokolo worked in the department of medicine at the University College Hospital from 1949 to 1950, and subsequently proceeded to London, uplifted with a professional letter of recommendation from professor Alexander Brown.^[19]

England move and RCPL

Arriving in England in 1950, he studied at

When he came back from London, Nwokolo returned to the civil service. He was appointed a special grade medical officer. Reorganisation in the service enabled all assistant medical officers to become medical officers after serving a period of one year as house officers. Nwokolo did one year house job in Ibadan before going to the United Kingdom for specialist medical qualification. He also did another year of house jobs in Dover after his highly successful conjoint LRCP and MRCP examination.^{[citation needed]}

With his senior house officer appointment and post MRCP working experience in the United Kingdom, Nwokolo earned his designation as a full medical officer on special grade. General Hospital Enugu was where he mainly served. Nwokolo had his extramural private practice in his home in the evenings. He was in charge of medical wards where in-patients were admitted and treated.^{[citation needed]}

Research

Nwokolo carried out medical research in the wards as well as in the field. He did major research in

For his 1963 to 1964 Rockefeller Foundation fellowship at Minnesota, Nwokolo was assigned to the gastroenterology unit under James Carey,^[24] chief of gastroenterology. On completing his fellowship, Nwokolo followed the same shipping route back. He briefly stopped in the United Kingdom, where he was honoured as an Edinburgh "Free Man of the City" and presented with the "Key to the City of Edinburgh" Scotland as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.^{[citation needed]}

Career

Gastroenterology department founding

After his return from the United States, Nwokolo was appointed associate professor of medicine. Subsequently, he set up a sub department of gastroenterology, with senior registrar Dr. Lewis. Nwokolo led research on various gastro-intestinal problems using intestinal biopsies and procedures he learnt in the United States at University of Minnesota.^[25][26]

Civil War in Nigeria

In 1966, before the

For those, such as Nwokolo, who escaped from Ibadan and Western Nigeria, the experience was so terrible that twenty-one specialist doctors mainly from Ibadan and Lagos met and resolved to establish a University Teaching Hospital in Enugu. At the meeting were doctors: Nwokolo, Onuaguluchi, Udekwu, Nwako, Nwachukwu, Eziashi, Ikeme, Udeh, Ogan, Uche, Okoro, Kaine, Udeozor, Okafor, Njoku-Obi, Ifekwunigwe, and others. Through Dr. Nlogha Okeke plus permanent secretary and chief secretary to the government: chief Onyegbula, approval was rapidly obtained from the military governor: Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to open a teaching hospital with Enugu General Hospital as base. Ojukwu also approved swift establishment of the faculty of medicine, headed by professor Kodilinye, while Nwokolo became the first head of the department of medicine and associate dean of medicine at the new medical school.^[27]

Nwokolo continued to work as head of the department of medicine of the university teaching hospital which had moved to Awka-Etiti when Enugu was threatened during the civil war. Nwokolo also carried out research especially relevant to the terrible war conditions of starvation and malnutrition. He toured churches and public gatherings to educate the people on nutrition and feeding for survival. Several mimeographed papers were produced and distributed for public education.^{[citation needed]} When the Nigerian Civil War ended in 1970, Nwokolo and family returned to Enugu, and found their house looted and the top floor completely razed by fire. He had to do some extensive rebuilding.^{[citation needed]}

With the approval of the Nigerian Federal Government for the re-opening of the

Nwokolo was an advisor for the World Health Organization.^[28][29] From 1963 to 1964, he was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow in gastroenterology at the University of Minnesota. He was honoured in 1964 with the Edinburgh: Scotland "Free Man of the City" award and "Key to the City of Edinburgh," having been inducted as a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, fellow of the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College: FMCP, fellow of the West African College of Physicians: FWACP, and fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science.^[30]

Nwokolo had

The Professor Chukwuedu Nwokolo Annual Lecture Series and Award of Prizes for Academic Excellence to stimulate research and scholarship was established in his honour by professor Benjamin Chukwuma Ozumba in 2006.[32]^{[33][34][35][36]}

Service

Nwokolo was an advisor to the Federal Government of Nigeria at the National Science and Technology Development Fund. Nwokolo was an in-law of Jaja Wachuku: Nigeria's first Speaker of the House of Representatives, first Nigerian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and first Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Relations. He was a contributor to the Cambridge University published: Principles of Medicine in Africa.^[37]

Honours

Nwokolo had a

• 1972–75: Dean Faculty of Medicine:
  University of Nigeria Nsukka
  , as well as Professor of Medicine: 1971 to 1980
• 1974: Accepted an invitation from the
  University of Nigeria Nsukka
  in research
• 1977–80: Chairman: National Institute for Medical Research Yaba: Nigeria
• 1980: On 21 March, delivered Professor Alexander Brown‟s lecture in Ibadan, titled: Facing the challenge of Medical Research in Nigeria
• 1982: Appointed Emeritus Professor of Medicine: University of Nigeria Nsukka. On 15 July, received the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award, as well as Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic: OFR honour from president Shehu Shagari
• 1983: Thanksgiving service for the career of Nwokolo, organised at University of Nigeria Nsukka by Professors Johnson and Ebele Maduewesi
• 1984: Appointed member of
  D.Sc: Honoris causa by the University of Maiduguri
• 1985: Appointed chairman: joint council of ASUTECH: Anambra State University of Technology – now Nnamdi Azikiwe University and IMT: Institute of Management and Technology Held office till1986 and was instrumental to the creation of the Awka campus of ASUTECH which later transformed to the present Nnamdi Azikiwe University
• 1986: Appointed board chairman: UCTH: University of Calabar Teaching Hospital Nwokolo served till 1994 following a second term appointment as board chairman of UCTH. He was also appointed member of National Science and Technology Development Fund
• 1988: Honoured with a Doctor of Science degree by the University of Ibadan, together with Olusegun Obasanjo, Matthew Mbu, Michael Ibru and Emmanuel Alayande ^[41]
• 1994: Nwokolo initiated a private research organisation called SICREP: Sickle Cell Research Programme to work on sickle cell disease.
• 1996: Appointed Knight of Saint Christopher by the
  Anglican Church Diocese on the Niger.^{[42][failed verification}
  ]
• 1996: On 12 September, Nwokolo was honoured by the Nigerian Postgraduate Medical College with a distinguished fellowship award with citation by professor Ayo Binitie
• 1998: Nwokolo was featured in the NTA: Nigerian Television Authority documentary on Nigerian Heroes. On 10 March, Nwokolo he was nominated by UCTH: University of Calabar Teaching Hospital for the Mary Slessor Distinguished Merit Award for service to humanity. This was in recognition of his "research works, introduction of the Drug Revolving Fund at University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, a patient funded system that was adopted by state governments in Nigeria; as well as for the system's acceptance in core line with the Bamako Initiative; and as the "longest serving chairman of University of Calabar Teaching Hospital's board of management ^[43]
• 2004: On 15 January, the Professor Chukwuedu Nwokolo Hall at the College of Medicine: University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu was launched^[44]

Publications

Some of Nwokolo's research articles and book publications are listed below:

• Nwokolo, Chukwuedu. (1969). Biafran Refugees: Problems of Disease Prevention and Medical Care. Enugu: Biafra Rehabilitation Commission.^[45]
• Nwokolo, Chukwuedu. (1984). The Place of Traditional Medicine and Other Local Resources in a Modern Health Care Programme in Nigeria. Maiduguri: University of Maiduguri.^[46]
• Nwokolo, Chukwuedu. (1993). Science for Survival: The Nigerian Option. Nigeria: Medical Development.^[47]
• Nwokolo, Chukwuedu, et al. (2004). Principles of Medicine in Africa.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
  ISBN 9780521806169

With his wife Lady Njideka Nwokolo (née Okonkwo) whom he married on 4 July 1953, Nwokolo had seven children, four girls and three boys.[48] Nwokolo died in New York, United States on 18 May 2014 at the age of 93.^[49]

See also

• Nigerian Medical Association
• Nwabueze Nwokolo
• John T. Nwangwu

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chukwuedu Nwokolo.

• National Institutes of Health: USA: Nwokolo
• University of Nigeria Nsukka Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• Chukwuedu Nwokolo: Google Books