Olawale Sulaiman

The government of Nigeria awarded 19-year-old Sulaiman a scholarship to study medicine in Bulgaria, where he received both a Master of Science and Doctor of Medicine from the Medical University of Varna. The University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, awarded him a Doctor of Philosophy in neuroscience. His neurosurgery residency was completed at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Sulaiman received two postgraduate fellowships: a "complex nerve reconstruction" fellowship at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and a "complex spine surgery" fellowship at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. == Career ==

He was system chairman of neurosurgery and co-medical director at the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute until January 2019 and then serves as the medical director, international medicine, African Region, Ochsner Health system. Currently, a visiting professor at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, and adjunct professor to University of Abuja. He is the CEO and chief medical director of RNZ Global Ltd, a healthcare development, operations and management company he started in 2010. of the Federal University of Health Science, Ila-Orangun, Osun State. On 26 August 2019, the governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, named Sulaiman as his "Special Adviser on Health Matters" to overhaul the state's healthcare system. The next month, from 23–27 September, Sulaiman participated in a Kwara State initiative that provided (equivalent to in ) for 500 free surgeries at General Hospital Ilorin. == Charity ==

While working as the Chairman of Neurosurgery at Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, USA, Sulaiman negotiated a reduction in his annual salary by 25% to free up time for him to travel to Nigeria every month to participate in education, training, and provision of medical care to Nigerians including free neurosurgery and spine care. ==Personal life==

Olawale Sulaiman was born in in Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria; he later described being born into a poor polygamous family as one of ten children. and they have three children, Rahim, Zaynab, and Najeeb. ==Awards==

He was shortlisted as one of the Sixty (60) most influential Nigerians, at "Your Views" Nigeria at 60th Diamond Jubilee series (Morayo,2020), in recognition of his selfless humanitarian services and career achievements home and abroad. Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) also shortlisted him as one of the top +600 most prominent Nigerians at the 60th Independent anniversary. He was conferred the Distinguished Citizen Award in (2019) by the Nigerian Canadian Association of Calgary (NCAC) presented by Adeyinka Olatokunbo Asekun, the Nigerian ambassador to Canada. Recently, he was also awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by President Muhammed Buhari. ==References==