Professor Elijah Oladunni Kehinde
Professor Elijah Oladunni Kehinde was born in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria into the family of late Pa Solomon Kehinde-Bankole of Bankole’s compound Taraa, Ogbomoso and late Madam Deborah Anke Kehinde-Bankole of Amegbo compound Ogbomoso on 13th November, 1953.
He had his early primary education in Ogbomoso and Ilorin Nigeria. He attended Government Secondary School, Ilorin for his secondary school education. He distinguished himself by graduating from the college with distinction in grade one in West African School Certificate. His performance earned him Federal Government Scholarship which he utilized in Federal Government College, Sokoto. He was admitted to the prestigious foremost University of Ibadan and graduated with laurels and bagged his degree in Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1979.
His professional career started from the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria as a house Officer with brief stint at University Teaching Hospital, Ile Ife. In the quest to develop himself, he secured a scholarship to pursue his diploma in Urology at University of London, United Kingdom in 1987. He completed his studies in record time. He was a registrar at the Institute of Urology, London from 1987 to 1988. In May 1990, he became a Fellow of the Medical College of Surgeons of Nigeria specializing in Urology. Later that same year October, he distinguished himself as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, (FRSC) England. In July 1998, he earned his Doctor of Medicine Degree (MD), from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.
As a seasoned Researcher, Educator, Urological Surgeon and Consultant, he won many academic awards, scholarships and distinctions. He was listed as a Urological Surgeon, Educator and Researcher in Marquis Who’s Who in the world and Who’s Who in Medicine/Health Care in 1997 till date. In April 2004, he won the award for the Best Clinical Sciences Research at the Health Sciences Poster conference. In 2005, he was the recipient of another award for the best Basic Medical Sciences Research in Kuwait University which was the first of many awards given to him by the same university. He obtained the prestigious award of distinguished researcher in 2006.
He won dozens of research grants among which were the 1991-1993 department of urology and university department of surgery, Leicester on prostate cancer. He also won a grant from 1993 – 1994 Bayer UK Limited on prostate cancer to mention but a few. He utilized all these grants judiciously thereby advancing the frontiers of learning, research and practice of medicine and surgery.
He had to his credit over 40 years of professional experience. He was an experienced medical colossus that was widely travelled. He was a regular attendee and featured speaker at the annual American Urological Association (and similar conferences in Europe, Asia, and Latin America). In his spare time, he was a mentor to many medical professionals around the world. He had over 85 indexed publications in both local and international learned journals of high repute, to his credit, in additions to book chapters, and several papers in peer-reviewed non-indexed journals. He was an expert reviewer, associate editor and editor of many leading journals in urology and medical sciences.
His distinguished medical career took him from Nigeria to the UK, and later to Oman and Kuwait, and then to Kazakhstan. He rose from the post house office to the position of a full professor in May 2008 in the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, Kuwait where he was a consultant Urological Surgeon. He served in this post for eight years before leaving for Kazakhstan where he was appointed a full professor. Here, he pioneered a world class medical school, cancer research center and reputable teaching hospital.