Dr. Emmanuel Olusegun Fashakin, born in Lagos, Nigeria, over 50 years ago, attended St. Gregory’s College, Lagos, Nigeria’s first Catholic high school and graduated as the student with the highest score in the School Certificate Examination in the school in that year. He got admitted to the University of Ibadan at 16, and also graduated as the best student of his set. Presently at his base in the United States, he is a distinguished private medical practitioner and an accomplished attorney.
A Nigerian, who in a class of his own is raising the banner of Nigeria high abroad among fellow countrymen is Dr. Emmanuel Olusegun Fashakin. He has made a mark for himself in both the fields of medicine and law, and now, he is a member of the State Bars of New York, New Jersey and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In May 1989 at the United Kingdom (UK), Fashakin became a fellow of Royal College of Surgeons in the United Kingdom, having passed all the eight examinations for the award of the Fellowships without failing any examination at any level.
He reapeated same feat in 1995 at the United States (US), exactly two years after he migrated to “God’s own country.” In July, 1993, the year he got to the US, Fashakin enrolled for a resident course in Family Practice at the Jamaica Hospital and in 1995, he sat for the final examinations.
When the results were released, Fashakin broke the school’s record in the annual examination conducted by the American Board of Family Medicine for resident doctors, scoring an all time high 99th percentile to beat his colleagues to a first position.
Before travelling abroad for his postgraduate studies, Fashakin, at 16, was at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university, to study medicine, like every other student admitted during his set, but turned out to be the best of them all.
By the time Fashakin got to the final class during his undergraduate programme at the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan in June 1979, he had done so well that he became the best graduate in a class of 188.
Aside this enviable feat, he won several other awards among which are: 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.
Immediately after graduation, he went for his internship at the State Hospital, Akure, Nigeria, and did his one year compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme at Toro Health Centre, Toro, Bauchi State, Nigeria.
On completion of his service programme, Fashakin returned to the College of Medicine of the University of Ibadan for a year residency programme in Pathology between July 1981 and June 1982. After that, he secured an employment with St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos, Nigeria, as a Medical Officer in primary health care. But he didn’t stay long before opting for further studies at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria, where he enrolled as a Surgery Resident in February 1983.
He completed the surgical residency in four years and passed all the examinations for the award of Diplomas of the Nigerian Medical College of Surgeons and the West African College of Surgeons without dropping any examination. This was also another record Fashakin set at that time.
Thereafter, he went on to write the primary examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of England conducted at the University Teaching Hospital, Korle Bu, Accra, Ghana, and passed with flying colours.
This fetched him a job as Attending Surgeon and Lecturer in Surgery at the Obafemi University (OUA), Ile-Ife in Osun State, Nigeria at a record age of 31. He was said to be the youngest person to ever attain such position in the country.
Fashakin emigrated to the United Kingdom in May 1989 and five weeks later, without any prior training in the British Isles, he sat for the Final Examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and became one of the successful students in the examination which had the pass rate of 9-11%.
After spending four years working in various hospitals in UK, Fashakin left for the US, but considering the need to go for additional training before he could be allowed to practice as a foreign medical graduate, it was at this point he changed to primary care and enrolled as a resident in Family Practice.
He wrote the examination and passed in 1995, and following this was his appointment as the Chief Resident in US. In July, 1996, he completed Family Medicine residency.
Fashakin in the US began a private practice and established the Alpha-K Family Medical Practice P.C. on July 1, 1996, the following day he completed the Family Practice residency, and has remained in practice of medicine since then. Now he has five branches of Alpha-K Family Medical Practice in Queens and Brooklyn Counties in New York City.
Due to his interest in law, he enrolled as an evening part-time student at the School of Law of St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York in August 2003, where he came first in his class in every semester examination. In July 2004, he was awarded the Dean’s Scholarship, a sum of $10,000 applied to tuition, as the best student in the evening section.
Fashakin is a Pentecostal Christian, a registered soccer referee in Nigeria, the UK and the US, and plays the piano, guitar and violin. He is also an avid golfer with a handicap index in the low 20s.
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