Dr. Babatunde Adeyemi

Dr. Babatunde Adeyemi is a senior consultant neurosurgeon at the University College Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, one of Africa's oldest and most prestigious academic medical centres. Founded in 1952, UCH Ibadan has trained generations of Nigerian and West African physicians, and its neurosurgery department is one of only a handful in Nigeria capable of performing the full range of cranial and spinal surgical procedures. Over a 20-year career at UCH, Dr. Adeyemi has become one of Nigeria's most experienced neurosurgeons, with a particular focus on brain tumour surgery, spinal surgery, and the management of traumatic brain injuries — a significant public health burden in Nigeria given the country's high road traffic accident mortality. He trained at the University of Ibadan, one of Africa's foremost academic institutions, and completed his neurosurgical specialist training within UCH's department. He holds Fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons in Neurosurgery, the highest specialist credential in his field within the West African region. He communicates in English and Yoruba and has a particular connection to patients from Oyo State and the wider Southwest region who travel to UCH Ibadan for neurosurgical care.

Dr. Adeyemi obtained his MBBS from the University of Ibadan College of Medicine. He trained as a neurosurgeon within UCH's department of surgery and neurological surgery, completing the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) specialist training programme and attaining Fellowship (FWACS) in Neurosurgery. He has undertaken additional subspecialty training in neuro-oncology through a collaborative programme involving UCH Ibadan and international academic partners. He has attended advanced neurosurgical skills courses in South Africa and has participated in visiting professor teaching programmes with neurosurgeons from Europe and North America who deliver training at UCH under partnerships with academic medical centres.

Dr. Adeyemi's cranial surgery practice includes craniotomy for resection of primary brain tumours (gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas), evacuation of traumatic subdural and intracerebral haematomas, and ventriculoperitoneal shunt insertion for hydrocephalus. He performs stereotactic biopsy for deep-seated or eloquent-area lesions. His spinal surgery work encompasses lumbar and cervical discectomy, laminectomy for spinal stenosis, and spinal tumour surgery. His trauma neurosurgery practice at UCH is high volume given the number of severe head injury patients who arrive from across Oyo State and neighbouring regions. He manages penetrating and blunt cranial trauma, skull fractures, and cervical spine injuries. He is one of the few neurosurgeons in the South-West geopolitical zone with experience in posterior fossa surgery and complex spinal reconstruction.

Dr. Adeyemi has published in the Nigerian Journal of Surgical Sciences and the African Journal of Neurological Sciences on topics including the epidemiology of traumatic brain injury in Southwest Nigeria, outcomes of ventriculoperitoneal shunting for hydrocephalus at UCH Ibadan, and neuro-oncology case series. He has presented at the African Association of Neurological Sciences congress and at the WACS annual scientific conference. He is engaged in a multi-centre Nigerian study on the burden and surgical outcomes of spinal cord compression, coordinated through the Nigerian Society of Neurosurgeons. He also contributes to UCH's departmental database tracking neurosurgical case outcomes — one of the few such databases maintained by an African academic neurosurgery unit.

UCH Ibadan attracts neurosurgical patients from across Nigeria and from West Africa more broadly, including patients from Benin, Ghana, and Sierra Leone who cannot access neurosurgical care locally. Dr. Adeyemi is experienced in receiving international referrals and in advising patients who have received a neurological diagnosis abroad and wish to have surgery performed in Nigeria. Diaspora Nigerians in the UK, USA, and Canada sometimes return to UCH Ibadan for neurosurgical procedures, both because of reduced cost and because of the expertise available at UCH for complex African cases. Referrals and appointment requests from international patients can be directed to UCH's specialist outpatient neurosurgery clinic.

Dr. Adeyemi has been awarded the Nigerian Society of Neurosurgeons' merit award for clinical excellence and research contribution. The West African College of Surgeons has recognised him as a distinguished Fellow and has invited him to contribute to WACS subspecialty training review panels for Neurosurgery. UCH Ibadan has acknowledged his contribution to the hospital's academic reputation through his research output and his supervision of surgical residents and WACS trainees. The African Association of Neurological Sciences has listed him among the continent's emerging leaders in neurosurgical practice.