Name: Dr. Ignatius Esene
Home Country: Cameroon
Home Hospital: Garoua Regional Hospital, Ministry of Health
Fellowship Hosts: Dr. Robert Dempsey – Chair of Department & Dr. Mustafa Baskaya- Director of Skull Base Surgery Program
Training Program: Training Program in Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt was in two parts:
2009-2012: Residency in Neurosurgery (Minor Neurology)
2013-2017: Doctorate Degree in Neurological Surgery (WFNS Scholarship + Support from Cameroonian Government)
FIENS Bassett Fellowship completion date: 2017
Dr. Ignatius Esene has used his FIENS Bassett Fellowship to further his education, and to educate and train others in his home country of Cameroon and globally. Upon returning to Cameroon, he set up the first Neurosurgical Care Unit in the Northern part of Cameroon, which has already improved outcomes for hundreds of patients. He is also actively involved in Neurosurgical Education in Cameroon and beyond as a lecturer of Neurosurgery. In addition, he has organized the first Neuro-simulation courses in 5 governmental Universities in his home country in collaboration with Upsurgeon.
Given the immense value of his fellowship at the University of Wisconsin Madison under the guidance of his sponsors, Dr. Robert Dempsey – Chair of the Department & Dr. Mustafa Baskaya- Director of Skull Base Surgery Program, he has become a strong advocate for research equity between high-income countries and low-and middle-income countries. Dr. Esene has taken all that he has learned and is currently mentoring many tenths of prospective Neurosurgeons in LMICs. Dr. Ghomsi, one of our recent Clack Family fellows, was mentored by Dr. Esene.
Dr. Esene has accomplished a great deal since completing his FIENS Bassett Fellowship in 2017, but he has just gotten started. He is also working on creating an ongoing Neurosimulation Laboratory project to facilitate the teaching and understanding of Neuroanatomy in Cameroonian Medical Schools. And if that wasn’t enough, he is also currently developing a pediatric Neurosurgery Unit in the newly built Garoua Regional Hospital Center – an ultra-modern hospital dedicated to mother and child health in North Cameroon built by the Cameroonian government.
Dr. Esene wished to express gratitude and sincere appreciation to the Head of the Department and FIENS Chair, Professor Dempsey, for his mentorship and financial support and to the entire University of Wisconsin- Madison staff for facilitating his stay in the department.
