Another Nigerian on the list of TIME Magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People’ after President-elect, Bola Tinubu, is Prof. Dimie Ogoina, an infectious diseases physician at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital, Okolobiri, Bayelsa State.
Ogoina was recognised for raising the alarm on a new presentation of Mpox, formerly known as Monkeypox, and persisting with his documentation when the world was not listening.
In this report, the PUNCH highlights the seven major things to know about the Nigerian don who is recognised by the popular US magazine.
1. Ogoina was born in Bayelsa State.
2. He attended Government Secondary School, Amassoma, Bayelsa State before proceeding to Ahmadu Bello University where he studied Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery.
3. He did his residency training with Geoffrey Onyemelukwe, a Professor of Medicine and Immunology at ABU, and taught medical students at ABU.
4. Prof. Ogoina and his team at NDUTH diagnosed and managed the first case of Monkeypox in Nigeria during the 2017 outbreak in the country.
5. He became a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Niger Delta University, Bayelsa State, at the age of 40 years.
6. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Director of the NDUTH and the President of the Nigerian Infectious Diseases Society.
7. He also has a keen research interest in the cure for HIV/Aids.
