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Meet Dr. Who Successfully Removed Tumour From A Baby In Her Mother’s Womb

Published

11 months ago

October 25, 2024

Dr. Olutoye Oluyinka is a distinguished Nigerian pediatric surgeon and medical researcher renowned for his pioneering work in fetal surgery.

He gained international acclaim in 2016 when he and his team successfully operated on a baby in utero, removing a life-threatening tumor and then returning the baby to the womb, where she continued to develop until birth.

Educated in Nigeria and the United States, Dr. Oluyinka has held prominent positions, including co-director of the Texas Children’s Fetal Center and later as the chief of surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio.

Early Life

Professor Oluyinka Olutoye, born in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 15, 1967, into a family with a long history in academics and the military from Idoani, Ose local government in Ondo state. His father, Major General (rtd) Olufemi Olutoye, was a well-known military commander and traditional leader and his mother, Professor Omotayo Olutoye, was an academic. Olutoye’s early ambitions to become a doctor were inspired by his upbringing in this environment, which gave him a burning desire for perfection.

He completed his primary education at Lagos University Staff School, before going on to King’s College Lagos for his secondary education. After that, he attended Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, where he obtained his medical degree (MBChB) and graduated as the class valedictorian in 1988.

Following his medical studies in Nigeria, Olutoye relocated to the United States to begin his postgraduate training in paediatrics at Howard University General Hospital and received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1996. Afterward, he did his general surgery residency at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital before specializing in pediatric surgery during his fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.

Career and Surgical Breakthroughs

The surgical achievement that made Professor Olutoye famous worldwide was the successful removal of a massive tumour called a sacrococcygeal teratoma from a 23-week-old fetus. He performed this complex treatment which involved briefly removing the fetus from the womb, removing the tumour, and then returning the fetus to the womb to continue developing at Texas Children’s Fetal Center. The baby, Lynlee Boemer, was delivered via C-section many weeks later in good health.

His experience includes various speciality procedures for fetal and newborn disorders such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia, lung abnormalities, chest wall deformities, omphalocele, gastroschisis, and difficult wound management. His research interests are on inflammatory responses in fetal wound healing, with the goal of discovering techniques to improve results in the treatment of congenital abnormalities.

In 2015, Professor Olutoye Oluyinka and a team of Nigerian doctors received international prominence for successfully separating conjoined twins Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata in a complicated surgery that was enthusiastically celebrated. His success in these pioneering surgeries has given him a reputation for innovative feats, which was reinforced in 2016 when he led another team to save a fetus from a life-threatening tumour, demonstrating the possibility of life-saving surgeries even before birth.

Awards, Achievements, and Recognitions

Professor Olutoye’s efforts have been recognised both in Nigeria and beyond. His alma university, Obafemi Awolowo University, honoured him with the coveted Great Ife Alumni Award for Excellence in the Sciences and admitted him into the Hall of Distinction. Other awards include the Molecular Surgeon Research Achievement Award from Baylor College of Medicine’s Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, the Mark A. Wallace Catalyst Leader of the Year Award from Texas Children’s Hospital, and the Denton A. Cooley Surgical Innovator Award.

President Muhammadu Buhari gave him Nigeria’s National Order of Merit (NNOM) Award in 2022, acknowledging his significant contributions to medicine. Beyond his achievements, Olutoye’s work has acted as an inspiration, demonstrating that life-saving medical treatments can be performed before birth, a watershed moment in contemporary medicine.

Research by Professor Olutoye is still concentrated on new approaches to fetal and neonatal surgery. His work as the pediatric surgery chair at The Ohio State University College of Medicine aims to improve outcomes for complicated congenital conditions and provide important new understandings of how inflammatory responses affect fetal repair. His research on animal models provides hope for addressing severe congenital defects and reducing issues in newborn patients.
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Related Topics:#Dr. Godsknow Igali Dr. Olutoye Oluyinka

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Kimmel’s Suspension: Obama Slams Trump For ‘Dangerous’ Attack On Free Speech

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11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Former United States President Barack Obama has condemned the suspension of the late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel following remarks he made about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on X on Thursday, Obama described the suspension of the show as a dangerous attack on free speech led by President Donald Trump.

He wrote, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”

Obama’s comments came after ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live had been suspended indefinitely.

The decision followed threats of a federal investigation into Kimmel’s remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close Trump ally who was shot and killed on September 10 while debating students at a Utah university.

During Monday’s broadcast, Kimmel accused Kirk’s supporters of using his assassination to “score political points.” At least one local ABC affiliate had already announced plans to stop airing the program before the network’s decision.

The suspension has sparked backlash from free speech advocates, who argue that the administration’s actions amount to political censorship.

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Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US

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11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Ghana will receive another 40 West Africans deported from the United States in the coming days, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, after the government revealed last week a deal had been struck with Washington.

Deporting people to third countries instead of their home nations has been a hallmark of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Ghana President John Mahama announced last week that 14 deportees from the region had been sent to the country, sparking questions over their current whereabouts and pushback from the political opposition.

“On humanitarian grounds, pan-African solidarity, let us accept our fellow West Africans. And let’s make the point that Ghana is your home,” Ablakwa told Ghanaian broadcaster Channel1 TV late Wednesday.

He said the deportees, who are vetted before arrival, will be allowed to remain in Ghana temporarily, per regional visa-free travel rules, or return to their home countries.

The Ghanaian government previously said that many of the deported west Africans had already returned to their home countries — though lawyers in the United States say at least some of them are being held in military detention in Ghana in “cruel conditions”.

Five Nigerians and Gambians deported to Ghana were granted protection from deportation by immigration authorities in the United States, their lawyers said in a Tuesday statement.

If they continue on to their countries of origin, they risk “torture, persecution or death”, said Lee Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.

Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th-century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.

Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.

The deportation agreement with Ghana comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.

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Putin Has ‘Let Me Down’, Trump Laments As UK State Visit Ends

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11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Donald Trump warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “really let me down” as he met Prime Minister Keir Starmer for wide-ranging talks on Thursday, the final day of the US president’s historic UK state visit.

A day after King Charles III treated Trump to royal pageantry at Windsor Castle, the Republican flew to Starmer’s Chequers country residence for talks on thorny issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Starmer has positioned himself as a bridge between Trump and European allies, particularly on the war in Ukraine, in a bid to secure more commitments for Kyiv from the US leader.

And his calls, repeated again on Thursday, for more international pressure on Putin appear to be gaining more traction with Trump, who slammed the Russian leader for continuing the war despite his efforts to stop the fighting.

Trump told a post-talks press conference that he had thought the Ukraine conflict would be the “easiest” to end “because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. He’s really let me down.”

He urged European nations to stop buying Russian oil, saying that “if the price of oil comes down, Putin’s going to drop out of that war.”

– ‘Unbreakable bond’ –

Starmer’s warm tone with the 79-year-old Trump has won some leniency in the president’s tariff war, with the British leader saying Thursday the trade deal the two countries signed in May was the first by the US and also “the best”.

But Trump said that the pair had “one of our few disagreements” about the UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

The US leader also offered strong thoughts on illegal migration in the UK, revealing that “I told the Prime Minister I would stop it”, even if it meant calling in the military.

Earlier in the day, Trump hailed America’s “unbreakable bond” with Britain as he and Starmer signed a huge tech deal, boosting ties in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy.

At the signing ceremony attended by a host of US tech CEOs, Labour leader Starmer said he and Republican Trump were “leaders who genuinely like each other.”

The deal comes on the back of pledges of £150 billion ($205 billion) of investment into the UK from US giants including Microsoft, Google and Blackstone.

Trump had earlier said goodbye to King Charles at Windsor, calling him a “great gentleman and a great king” as he left the castle heading to Chequers.

Appealing to Trump’s admiration for British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Starmer led the US president on a tour of Churchill artifacts at Chequers.

Starmer is facing political troubles at home after sacking his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over his connections to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Sex offender Epstein has also haunted Trump over recent weeks, with further revelations about the pair’s relationship in the 1990s and early 2000s.

– ‘Highest honours’ –

Having negotiated the potentially perilous press conference relatively unscathed, Starmer can claim some justification for granting Trump an unprecedented second state visit, with investment deals and deepening alignment on Ukraine to show for the diplomatic effort.

Trump was Wednesday lavished with the full pomp and circumstance of the British state — the second time it has done so, after his first visit in 2019.

“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life,” Trump said at the state banquet.

The king meanwhile hailed Trump’s peace efforts and support of Ukraine, after a day featuring gun salutes, soldiers on horseback, and bagpipes, all designed to appeal to the US president’s fascination with royalty.

But he also stressed to Trump the need to protect the environment for “our children, grandchildren, and those who come after them”.

Melania Trump remained in Windsor on Thursday morning, where she met scouts with Princess Catherine, and viewed Queen Mary’s Doll’s House with Queen Camilla.

The US first lady’s husband was kept far from the British public, with an estimated 5,000 people marching through central London Wednesday to protest against his visit.

Trump was due to return to Washington later Thursday.