Dr. Onajovwe Fofah, S/N 2191 class of 72/76 is a proud Ex-May. He is an Academic Pediatrician and is the Chair of the Department of Pediatrics of New Jersey Medical School, which is part of Rutgers Biomedical Health Sciences of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA (a department of 42 Full Time and Part Time Faculty and over 200 Volunteer Faculty).
He also serves as the Chief of Pediatrics at University Hospital, Newark, NJ- the main teaching hospital for Rutgers-NJMS and the Director of the Division of Neonatal- Perinatal –Medicine of both the medical school and hospital.
He is a 1984 graduate of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara State, where he obtained his MBBS degree. He moved to the US in 1991, completed all of his medical conversion examinations the same year, and began his 3–year residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ / Children’s Hospital of NJ in 1992 and received the Pediatrics Continuity Clinic Outstanding Award. He then proceeded to Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY for his fellowship and sub specialization training in Neonatal Perinatal Medicine from 1995 to 1998 and was named the Chief Fellow in his final year.
He is Board Certified in General Pediatrics and Neonatal- Perinatal Medicine by the American Board of Pediatrics. He started his post fellowship practice at the Northwest Illinois Perinatal Center at Rockford Health system- a 14 county perinatal practice in 1998 and was named one of the best Doctors in the region in Illinois. He moved back to the Northeast, USA in 2005, as an Assistant Professor and Attending Neonatologist where he has risen to become of head of the department. He is a member of several professional organizations including the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs of North America, a national collaborator of the Vermont Oxford Network (an international network of neonatal ICUs), a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and section of NeonatalPerinatal Medicine.
He is a respected clinician, collaborator in the field of neonatology regionally, nationally and internationally with extensive publications.
He is the recipient of several teaching, academic, community, citizen and professional awards, the most recent in 2021 as one of America’s Most Honored Doctors (top 1%) and The Visionary Award by the Student National Medical Association at Rutgers-NJMS. He has been married for over 30 years to Mrs. Adenike Fofah, a Respiratory Therapist and former Banker and they are blessed with 3 children (Oluwatosin, a Doctoral student at Temple University, Ayodeji- an Accountant with Baker Tilly and Mosope, a final year Pre-Med student at Rutgers University). During his down time, he is active in his community in central NJ through the Nigeria Social Club of USA supporting causes of Nigerian, Health Disparities and Racial importance.
