Godfrey Onime is a physician, educator, writer, and a dynamic speaker. He received his MD from NYU School of Medicine and residency training in internal medicine at the New York's Columbia University-Presbyterian Hospital. He further completed an MA in writing at John’s Hopkins University in 2016, receiving the outstanding science writing student award. He was a 2014 Science Writing Scholars award recipient from the National Academies of Science/Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI). An assistant professor of medicine at Campbell University, he is also the Associate Program Director the Internal Medicine Residency Program at UNC Health Southeastern, as well as the Program Director for the Transitional Year Residency Program. He presses his love for teaching and has in consecutive years received the best teaching attending awards. Dr. Onime's searing essays have appeared in the New York Times, Guideposts Magazine, the Fayetteville Observer, among others, and also on this platform. He is deep into research on books about the history of critical care medicine, and on medical errors and misdiagnoses, and is available to speak on these topics. He lives in North Carolina. Email: onimeg [at] aol.com
by Godfrey Onime At the physicians’ lounge recently, a colleague asked me, “How are the new interns? Aren’t you glad another July is over?” I told him that our new class of first-year medical residents, or interns as they are commonly called, seemed quite strong. As for his celebratory comments about the vanquishing of July,…
by Godfrey Onime A few months ago, I walked into a patient’s hospital room, introduced myself, and sat on a chair next to her bed. After a quick review of her condition, I stood to examine her. The woman stopped me. “No offense, Doc,” she said, “but did you wash your hands?” I was shocked…
by Godfrey Onime Short and snappy, the smooth-faced lieutenant-colonel who had been appointed deputy inspector-general of hospitals for the British army would butt heads with non-other than the chaste, indefatigable Florence Nightingale. A heroine of Victorian England who was celebrated as the pioneer of nursing during the Crimean War, Nightingale wrote to her sister about…
by Godfrey Onime I am reminded of an observation made by an African comedian at a wedding reception I once attended in Atlanta. He quipped that the English language tends to identify even the most hideous diseases by the most beautiful names. Names so lyrical, so poetic, so sensuous you almost wish to contract the…
by Godfrey Onime Ponder this. It is the 15th century and you have a high chance of contracting and dying from a rampant infection. Turns out that you could intentionally infect yourself with a small dose of the contagion, get slightly sick, and become protected for life. Of course, things are not always that simple. …
by Godfrey Onime Just months after the new president was sworn into office, a would-be assassin’s bullet whizzed through the air and sliced into his chest. It cracked his rib, punctured his left lung, and barely missed his heart. It was March 30th, 1981 and Ronald Reagan was rushed to the George Washington University Hospital, in…
by Godfrey Onime Consider the case of James Edward Hanger, who was only 18 when the American civil war erupted. A promising engineering student, he left his studies at Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) to enlist in the military. The date was June 1, 1861. Fate had other plans for the young man…
by Godfrey Onime At the hospital a couple of years ago, a nurse walked up to me to report that one of my patients was “hysterical.” “She says to make sure Dr. X never returns to her room,” the nurse explained. I was the patient’s internist and Dr. X the surgeon who had operated on…
by Godfrey Onime “Dr. Onime, your patient in room 607 is throwing a fit,” read the nurse’s message on my iPhone. “He wants to leave. What should I do?” I was half-way through lunch. I placed a call to the nurse and asked her to try and convince the patient to stay until I got…