Meet the Black woman who will soon become the first Black woman to practice pediatric surgery in Canada!

According to Face2Face Africa, Dr. Oluwatomilayo (Tito) Daodu is on a mission to make surgical care accessible to all.

Despite a rough childhood, Dr. Daodu is an award-winning researcher volunteer and wants to “break down barriers to patients in need of surgical care.”

“One of the things that excite me about the future is that I have a story that not many people have,” said Dr. Daodu. “I am probably uniquely situated from what I’ve gone through in life to be able to speak not just from an academic point of view, but from real life.”

So proud to get to practice #pedsurg with such an incredible and supportive team at Alberta Children’s Hospital! Thanks for the shout out @APSASurgeons! Let’s all take strides to ensure equitable access to careers in medicine and surgery! #MedTwitter #ILookLikeASurgeon https://t.co/Nd3v6wqafG

— Tito Daodu MD (@TitoDaodu) February 10, 2021

According to Avenue Calgary, Dr. Daodu was born in Nigeria and emigrated to Canada permanently at the age of eight after first being deported.

She grew up in a rough neighborhood located in Winnipeg’s inner city but found early mentors at West Broadway Youth Outreach, a local drop-in center for kids that she says changed her life.

Today, she is inspired to offer the same mentorship to kids coming up behind her.

“Kids need to believe that it doesn’t matter where they come from or what they look like,” she continued.

As a medical student, she co-developed a project in Tanzania that focused on adolescent gender and reproductive health.

Currently, she is completing a master’s of public health at Harvard University –where she is part of a team led by Dr. Mary Brindle — that works to revise the safe surgery checklist for high-income countries around the world.

Once her training is complete, Dr. Daodu will become the first Black woman practicing pediatric surgeon in Canada.

Black Pediatric Surgeon

Sign up for our daily Newsletter.