After 30 years of practicing in the UK, a doctor, Modupe Elebute-Odunsi, a hematologist-oncologist, has opened an ultramodern specialist hospital located in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The hospital, known as the Marcelle Ruth Cancer Centre & Specialist Hospital, officially opened its doors in April 2021.
Owned by her and her husband, Bolaji Odunsi, the hospital was conceived and executed with the specific intention of addressing the detection and treatment of cancer and many other specialist conditions in an environment akin to a top private hospital in Europe or North America.
Elebute leads a team of over 40 staff who work with first-class equipment and whose mantra is ‘The best possible patient experience.’
The hospital is equipped with the latest technology, including a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator, the most advanced radiotherapy machine available in the world, the first in West Africa, and the 5th in the whole of Africa. Elebute aims to make her own mark in the Nigerian healthcare space with this feat.
Here are some things to know about her.
1. She was born to parents who are professors in the medical field (one, a professor of surgery; the other, a professor of physiology).
2. Elebute-Odunsi is one of four children.
3. She graduated from the College of Medicine, the University of Lagos, in 1986, after which she completed postgraduate training in Internal Medicine and Hemato-Oncology at centers of excellence in London, including St Bartholomew’s Hospital, St George’s Hospital, and The Royal Marsden.
4. She received a prestigious fellowship from the Leukaemia Research Fund and gained a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of London for her groundbreaking work.
5. In the UK, Dr. Elebute has held consultant and honorary senior lecturer posts at St George’s Hospital, the National Blood Service, and King’s College Hospital and has a well-established private practice at the Spire and Lister Hospitals.
6. In Nigeria, she has worked at the Lagoon Hospitals, where she was instrumental in developing a pathology laboratory and a sickle cell clinic.
7. She conceived the idea of setting up the hospital after turning 50.
9. Involved in the development of the undergraduate hematology curriculum at St. George’s University of London, Dr. Elebute was also a postgraduate director and educational supervisor for the University of London’s hematology postgraduate training program for several years.
10. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists, and a member of the British Society of Hematology and the American Society of Hematology.
11. Passionate about giving back, Dr. Elebute helped set up the Sickle Cell Club of Lagos while still at medical school.
12. She is a patron of Build Africa and a past trustee of The Walkabout Foundation.
13. She is married with children.
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