Name: Oluwaseun Basit Ogunbona

Course of study: Medicine and Surgery, Physiology

Period of study: 2006 to 2013

Additional academic and professional qualifications: Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Cellular and Molecular Physiology (Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States), Residency training in Pathology (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States)

Employer and Position: Resident Physician, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, United States.

Experience in the University of Lagos and how it helped or it is helping you to achieve your career/life goals: My experience at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) was memorable and overwhelmingly positive.  As a student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), I was privileged to have a solid academic foundation that anyone could have for a future career in medicine and science. I was taught and trained by supportive teachers and staff many of whom were extremely skillful with many years of experience in their field. I developed a personal relationship with many people I met and some of them have continued to support me and to serve as mentors to me in all areas of life. As the university of first choice, being in UNILAG also afforded me the opportunity to be in the same class with the best minds and intellectuals as colleagues. Since iron sharpens another iron, this ensured I left UNILAG with the grit that is indispensable to survive and thrive in the international field. The notable intercalated Bachelor of Science degree I was first advised to consider and subsequently approved to do piqued my curiosity in obtaining a graduate degree outside of Nigeria. Additionally, I was trained to be a leader in UNILAG through the various avenues available for progressive leadership development such that I went from being an assistant class representative in my first year to being one of the fifty selected representatives to review the University of Lagos Student Union (ULSU) constitution in my third year and later became an elected president of the College of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences Student Association (COMPSSA). I benefitted from a lot of UNILAG-sponsored training workshops and seminars and I can confidently say that the various academic and leadership opportunities made available to me in UNILAG helped and continues to help me with achieving my career goals/life aspiration. If I were to choose again, it will be UNILAG all the way.