Neurosurgeon Olawale Sulaiman, MD, PhD, of New Orleans-based Ochsner Health System performed over 500 free spine surgeries in his home country of Nigeria, according to Nigerian news website Legit.
Dr. Sulaiman negotiated a 15 percent salary cut so he could travel to Nigeria every month for seven to 10 days to provide free spine care. His medical missions to Nigeria began in 2010.
In the last five years he has performed over 500 surgeries and provided preventative medicine to more than 5,000 people while OHS has supported his missions by sending supplies.
He is a professor of neurosurgery and spine surgery and is system chairman of the department of neurosurgery at OHS. Dr. Sulaiman's areas of interest include nerve and spinal cord injury and regeneration research.
Dr. Sulaiman earned his medical degree from the Medical University in Varna, Bulgaria. He completed fellowship training in complex nerve reconstruction at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and a fellowship in complex spine surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He also holds a PhD in neuroscience from University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.