- Safiu Kehinde
Dr. Ijeoma Akunyili, daughter of late former National Agency for Food and Drug Control and Administration’s (NAFDAC) Director-General, Prof. Dora Akunyili, has emerged as the first black physician to lead the United States’ Jersey City Medical Centre.
This was disclosed in a post shared on X on Friday.
According to the post, Akunyili became the first black medical practitioner to lead the hospital since its founding in 1882 following her appointment as the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer.
While she had carved a different path in the US, the medical practitioner still followed the record-setting footstep of her late mother who was also the first female NAFDAC Director-General.
The late Prof. Dora Akunyili was appointed by as NAFDAC’s DG in 2001 under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
She served till 2008 before her appointment as the Minister of Information and Communications in 2009.
Akunluyi would resign two years after to contest for the seat of Anambra Central Senatorial District which she lost to the then candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Chris Ngige.