Dora Akunyili’s Daughters Continue Mother’s Excellence

It is almost nine years since Dora Akunyili died, but she has continued to live in the memories of Nigerians because of her exploits during her time as the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

The late Akunyili turned NAFDAC into a household name in Nigeria and across Africa due to her unparallel commitment to public health and patriotism for country.

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It now seems that her excellence runs in the family after two of her children came into prominence due to their individual brilliance.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, is one of her six children to carry on with the legacy of the ex- NAFDAC boss.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Nigerian-born visual artist working in Los Angeles, California

The visual artist working in Los Angeles, California found her spark two years after her mother’s death.

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Cosby graduated from Swarthmore College in 2004, where she studied art and biology as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow.

She abandoned her career in medicine for fine arts at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

After graduating from Yale in 2011, the 40-year-old was selected as artist-in-residence at the highly regarded Studio Museum in Harlem

Crosby organised her first solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum. Another exhibition was organised for her works at Art and Practice in Los Angeles in the same year.

In 2016, Crosby was named Financial Times Woman of the Year and in 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Genius Grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

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Crosby’s painting, Drown, was sold at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in November 2016 for $900,000.

Her first painting to be sold was Untitled and went for $93,000 in September 2016 at Sotheby’s.

In March 2017, her painting titled, The Beautyful Ones (Series #1c), the first painting of five belonging to The Beautyful Ones Series, was sold by a private collector for $3 million at Christie’s London.

In May 2018, Crosby set a new auction record with the sale of her painting, Bush Babies, for nearly $3.4 million at Sotheby’s New York.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby’s Painting, Bush Babies Sold For $3.4m

She made over $7.39m from the sale of her prestigious paintings.

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Ijeoma Akunyili, Dora’s first daughter is the latest to be in the news as she made history over the week as the first Black Chief Medical Officer of the Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, in the United States of America.

Ijeoma Akunyili, Chief Medical Officer of the Jersey City Medical Center, an RWJ Barnabas Health facility, in the United States/Internet

She was born in Houston and completed her undergraduate education at the University of Pennsylvania before going on to attend the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Ijeoma completed her residency at The University of Texas Health Science Centre at Houston.

She served as former Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA) Speaker and Vice Speaker (2012-2014).

The EMRA is a professional organization that represents more than 90 per cent of resident physicians training in emergency medicine in the United States.

Just before making the history, she served as the Regional Medical Director for TeamHealth, Northeast Group.

Ijeoma also served as the chair of emergency medicine at Waterbury Hospital, a Level II trauma teaching hospital.

In 2019, she received the Medical Director of the Year Award for the impressive turnaround of the Waterbury Hospital Emergency Department.

“RWJBarnabas Health is proud to add Dr. Akunyili to its executive clinical leadership team. Her experience managing multi-specialty physician groups in integrated health care systems will help support Jersey City Medical Centre in providing comprehensive health care throughout the community,” said Andy Anderson, MD, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical and Quality Officer for RWJBarnabas Health.

Dora was appointed to head NAFDAC by President Olusegun Obasanjo between 2001 to 2009. This was over two years after the country returned to democrac in 1999.

The Anambra-born pharmacist revealed she had a special motivation for attacking the country’s counterfeit drug.

She had narrated how she watched her 21-year-old sister die after receiving injections of fake insulin as a diabetes treatment.

Dora died on June 7, 2014 at a specialist cancer hospital in India which was eleven years after escaping an assassination attempt.

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