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Professor Alfred Chikwe Ikeme
Alfred Chikwe Ikeme, was a Nigerian cardiologist, known for being the first West African physician to have specialized in cardiology. During his lifetime, he held notable titles such as Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician at the University of Ibadan, World Health Organization (WHO) Temporary Adviser on cardiomyopathies in Africa, South America, and the West Indies, and Chairman of the Board of National Institute for Medical Research. Alfred Ikeme passed away peacefully on July 22, 2023 in Jos, Plateau State.

Early Life & Education
Chikwe Ikeme was the first of four children, born into the Catholic family of Sir. Alfred Mountbatten Ikeme (a Principal and Catholic Papal Knight) and Mrs. Margaret Ikeme, on November 15 1929 in Nimo, present day Anambra State. Ikeme got baptized at Catholic Mission Church in 1929, and received Holy Eucharist in 1937, after which he started school the same year at St. Andrew's Primary School, Adazi, and later confirmed in 1939. He joined King's College Lagos on scholarship in 1943, after which he left in 1948 to commence his study of Medicine at University College Ibadan. Ikeme left Ibadan in 1952 to complete his studies at the University of Liverpool, on a government scholarship. He finished with MB.BS [London] and in addition, earned notable memberships with London Royal College of Physicians (LRCP), and Member Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) [England] in 1955. He returned to University College Hospital (UCH) of Ibadan in 1956 for residency training from 1956-1959, the last year being devoted to training in Cardiology. Ikeme returned to the UK in 1960, to gain his Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene, at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

From April 1960, Alfred Ikeme underwent specialist training in Cardiology starting at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, followed by Hammersmith Postgraduate Medical School, before attending the National Heart Hospital of London in October 1961. This made Ikeme the first Nigerian to train specifically in Cardiology.

Ikeme returned to the University College Hospital of Ibadan with a Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene [Liverpool], as a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) in 1961, working as a Senior Specialist Registrar in Cardiology & Neurology.

In 1962, Ikeme left to Oxford Radcliffe Infirmary to continue additional training in Cardiology with the West African Training Fellowship in Cardiovascular Research Methods. Here, he undertook haemodynamic and angiocardiographic studies in the Cardiac Unit, as well as electrocardiographic and phonocardiographic reporting for the whole hospital. This included immunologic changes following cardiac surgery.

Career
After, the birth of his first son in 1963, he returned to University College Hospital (UCH) and University of Ibadan in 1963, as the First Nigerian formally trained in Cardiology, as a Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant Physician. While working in UCH, in 1966 he established the first Nigerian Cardiac Registry, with support of the World Health Organization (WHO). This registry documented all cardiovascular disorders for diagnosis that had been confirmed, which consisted of cardiac catheterisation, angiocardiography, and where relevant, surgery with tissues confirmed at pathology. During this period he was also a WHO Temporary Adviser on Cardiomyopathies in Africa, South America and the West Indies.

Ikeme was promoted to Senior Lecturer rank in 1966, and was also Sub-Dean of Clinicals when the Biafran war started. Certain elements of the Nigerian army invaded the sanctity of University College Hospital-Ibadan in search of a wounded Ibo officer who had been brought to the hospital for treatment; all Ibo consultants in UCH resigned en-masse as they no longer felt secure. In 1967, with their prompting (Ikeme and Dr. lfekwunigwe) as arrow-heads, the Government of Eastern Nigeria established a Medical Faculty in the University of Nigeria-Nsukka. Here, Ikeme continued his ranked position as Senior Lecturer. The Biafra-Nigeria War hindered progress until 1970, when the Medical Faculty resumed operations once again. He was elected to Fellow of the Medical College of Physicians Nigeria (FMCP) as a foundation fellow that year. In those early days, he doubled as Head of Physiology. He felt capable to do this because of his firm belief that a Physician without Physiology is deficient at the base.

At the end of the war, WHO appointed him as Cardiologist and Team Leader on their advisory team for cardiovascular diseases. This withdrew him from Enugu, placing him on a leave of absence to attend to the WHO bases at the Makerere Medical School (1972-1973) and the University of Ghana Medical School (1974-1976). During this time, he was promoted to Reader in Medicine at the University of Nigeria, and earned the Fellow of the West African College of Physicians (FWACP) and Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) in Edinburgh. He then returned from his field work with the WHO to Nigeria, where he accepted his appointment as the first Professor of Medicine and Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Jos. In that same year (1976), he earned the Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in London. In his capacity as Foundation Dean, he recruited all foundation staff, designed and supervised the construction of the old pre-clinical and clinical departments, designed the original faculty curriculum, and served as the first Chief Medical Director of Jos University Teaching Hospital. His office lasted until 1984, when he returned to the Department of Medicine, full time.

Professor Ransome-Kuti took this chance to task Ikeme with designing the first ever National Survey on Non-Communicable Diseases. The report detailing this strategically designed idea however, labeled it as mismanaged and rather uninspiring by 83 bureaucrats in the Ministry, who produced it only after the originating Minister, Professor Ransome-Kuti had left office. Between 1990 and 1992, when he bowed out of public eye, he was Chairman of the Board of National Institute for Medical Research as well as an Expert in the Committee of Medicine for the Board of Trustees of the National Merit Award.

Personal Life & Retirement
On 20th May 1962, Ikeme went back to Nimo, present day Anambra State, where he married Miss Veronica Nonyem Obiweluozo. Their marriage lasted 61 years, producing four children and sixteen grandchildren. He retired from the University of Jos in November, 1989 at the age of 60 years. He started his own private cardiology practice in Jos thereafter, and remained active until he was 90 years old. He left indelible marks in his numerous seminal works (that suffered setbacks due to the war and years of deanship), as well as on his residents, whom he mentored throughout his extensive career.

Ikeme, who was a pious Christian, also had the opportunity to start the St. Vincent De Paul charity in St. Louis Catholic Church in Jos. As a testimony to his steadfastness in the Catholic faith, in 1997, the then Late Archbishop G. G. Ganaka installed the Blessed Sacrament in his house, a rare recognition of religious piety. The Blessed Sacrament remains in the Ikeme's Residence at Rantiya Jos to date.