Kunle Idowu

Olakunle Idowu – Anesthesiologist, MD Anderson

David: I know you said it’s a long story, but I’d love to hear the short version of the long story. 

I’m Nigerian, I was actually born in Nigeria.  I’m the last of four children.  My siblings were born in Boston, but my father, who is a math professor took a position at the university of Dos.  We were living there when I was born.  I came to the United States when I was 3 years old.  

I grew up in Maryland, went to University of Maryland, I’m a Terrapin.  I went to the Virginia Commonwealth University for medical school, SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY for Anesthesia Residency, and Critical Care here in Houston, which is what brought me to Houston.  

Since then I’ve spent time in private practice and in academics.  

Initially I left private practice and came MD Anderson for 3 years, then my wife was recruited to Yale in New Haven CT, we went there for a year, decided to come back, and here I am! 

(Laughter)

There’s been some moving and shifting, but I think along the way that God has revealed things to us.  We feel Houston is home even though our families are in the northeast.  

My wife is a pediatric anesthesiologist, she works at MD Anderson as well.  

David: When you say critical care, is that anesthesia or normal medicine.  

Kunle: The track is critical care through anesthesia, it’s a one-year internship after training, I spent a year at UT Houston, and during part of that time I was at MD Anderson, which is how I connected to the institution.  

David: What do you love about your work?  Why anesthesia?  Aside from talking to me, what gets you out of bed in the morning?

Kunle: (audio drops briefly) Learning includes lessons about life, about vulnerability, about faith, about spirituality, about strength, perseverance, about conflict.  I think working both in the operating room and also having experiences in critical care. . .they’re very different environments.  

In the operating room, most people walk into the hospital, most procedures tend to be elective, the intent is that things end well.  That is always the expected outcome, or what people perceive as a good outcome – to get through surgery or whatever procedure they are having.  

In the ICU the dynamic is very different.  Expectations and goals change daily, hourly, by the minute depending on the patient situation.  Sometimes you find yourself healing not through intervention but through support and prayer and walking side-by-side with patients.  That is where my energy comes from, that’s what wakes me up.  

You know, I drink coffee like most people, to get me going.  But somehow when I get in front of a patient I’m up, I’m there, I’m present. 

David: Have you done any overseas work lately?  What you describe sounds like the role of somewhere like Kijabe.  When an anesthesiologist comes, they are everywhere, they’re in the operating room, they’re in the ICU, they’re in the emergency department if something goes strange. . .they’re everywhere.  

Kunle: Compared to some of the other people involved in this project, I’m fairly new.  I’ll tell you that story.  

In coming back to MD Anderson, I pivoted in terms of focus.  There’s something in me, and there’s something that’s always been in me.  I have relatives or people who are Nigerian, who came here as immigrants who for training with the intent of going back.  My father came to the States for post-graduate training, but never returned to Nigeria permanently.  So, I’ve understood that there has always been this void, not only in Nigeria, but across the continent, in terms of people who receive opportunities who receive opportunities overseas whether in the States or across the world, and never return.  It’s almost like there’s a resource that’s been taken away. . .people don’t go back to even plant seeds to grow.  I think people are realizing this, and that itch. . .I’ve always had that itch to be involved in this work.  

I was initially looking to do things in Nigeria and I was looking to start projects I was looking to start a symposium and looking for schools/teaching hospitals in Nigeria to connect with.  I connected with HBO.  They have a site at Kat Karmasi, Ghana.  My wife and I were set up to go this April for a two-week trip.  She was going to help with Pediatric Anesthesia education and I was going to teach a fundamentals critical-care support course, because critical care mortality is extremely high across the continent.  That is one thing that is very clear.  The contact I have there is very concerned about obstetric mortality, the availability of resources and ventilators is limited.  I work with Louis Pisters, a urologist at MD Anderson, and he’s connected with PAACS. 

He said, “you know, I work with a great organization.”  He’s a person of strong faith and conviction.  I attended a meeting with PAACS and learned that there was an Anesthesia task force.  Everything about the project aligns with my personal goals and how I see myself.  It brings my faith, it aligns my faith, my practice, and this internal feeling – this urge – to start doing more global outreach.  The timing couldn’t be better, and I have support from my institution to do this.  

That’s how I got involved.  Long story, but I’m extremely excited because at the center of it is God, and my love for Christ.  

Through medicine, I’ve affirmed the idea that only God can perform miracles.  We are tools that he has put here to carry out his will and to be blessings upon others.  You know, blessed to be a blessing in a sense.  That’s how I practice and that’s how I see this project.  Everything that I’ve come to understand about Kijabe, that’s my understanding of the center, of the people there, of you and your work.  I’m just excited and so very thankful and grateful.  

David: That’s awesome

Have you ever heard of Howard Thurman?  He was an African American pastor.  He was Martin Luther King’s spiritual mentor.  I went down the rabbit trail this weekend and I ended up with a book of his sermons that I got on Amazon for a dollar – that’s the best dollar I’ll ever spend – he’s got this amazing passage about medicine as ministry.  It’s so, so good and reminds me of what you just said.

He goes through the entire passage and ends up with the statement that “every hospital, every clinic, every consultation room should be an altar for the burning heart of God.”  

Kunle: Absolutely.  You can almost draw a parallel to the pandemic.  You see how limited our understanding of the human body and where is this virus coming from?  All these resources focused on one thing. Right? Its human will that we are going to control this, yet every day we are reminded that we are not in control. There is only one person in control of all of this.   

These are the same interactions that happen on a daily basis in the hospital.  When it comes to cancer care you realize it.  People often want to treat the numbers, or they see a CT scan. “I have to fix this.”  That’s the human instinct.  

You learn how limited you are, in the sense that you could do everything and not change the outcome.  You could do nothing, and the outcome can be favorable for the patient.  It’s because God is in the center of it.  He has a masterplan.  You have to step back, realize your place, that you are just a tool.  You cannot fix the situation. You just have to trust God.  

That’s why I bring spirituality and I bring faith.  MD Anderson is obviously not known per se as a Christian institution.  I always ask people, are you a person of faith?  Regardless of their background, most other religions or people who consider themselves as being spiritual, they are open to prayer.  Prayer is universal, for everyone.  I pray for them.  I know my father, but I pray for them.  I love that aspect of medicine.  

David: If we get you over here, you’ll meet Jack Barasa, our head of surgery.  Whenever you talk to him, he says a similar thing about Kijabe “this is God’s hospital.” 

He says, “We do these things, and somehow a patient gets better.  We do the exact right thing and they don’t get better.  Or we make a mistake and somehow, they walk out the door three days later.  It’s very clear that we are not the ones in control of the situation.” 

My wife had this awesome mentor in Alabama.  When she was in residency, she had a really low moment.  Her program director called her into her office, and she said, “Arianna, you need to trust God. You do not hold the keys to life and death.  A patient could walk in the door, and they could walk out even if you do everything wrong.  This is ultimately not about you.”

That’s the big challenge of what you do in medicine, how to work with all your skill and all your power yet know your limitations and to be at peace with that at the end of the day. 

Kunle:

I think about these things every day.  I reflect on the day and the lessons learned.  

Even for me, as I’m caring for patients in stressful situations, that He is my quiet in the middle of the storm.  I can only trust Him to give me the thoughts, wisdom, understanding, compassion.  It has made me a better person, ultimately. 

David: What do you say to a family member, say you’re in ICU and you have a patient who is not doing well. How does it go?  What is running through your head and what are you trying to convey to them? 

Kunle: It’s tricky, a lot of it depends on their background.  It depends on their knowledge of medicine.  It depends on the conversations they have had prior to the moment.  In critical care, you tend to have limited access to the patient’s perspective.  Either because people are too ill to communicate, or because they are on mechanical ventilation and have a breathing tube and they just can’t talk.  So, you have to rely on surrogates.  

I take a few days, when a patient isn’t doing how I would expect.  I take a few days and really try to understand the situation, before I jump in and try to give a perspective.  I want the family or the caregivers to know I am taking my time to reflect, to comb through things, and make sure we have explored all options.  I ensure through communication and bedside manner that I am there to support them in any way that I can, whether that is moving around hospital resources and so forth.  I remain objective about the data points.  

“This is what this shows, this is where we are, this is where we were yesterday.  Your loved one (the patient) doesn’t have control of the situation, I don’t have control of that situation, and you don’t have control of the situation.  So, we must take it one day at a time, using God-given tools every single day to apply.  He will show and reveal to us how your loved-one responds.  In the meantime, the tool that we have, the most powerful one, is prayer.”  

I remind them, I pray with them, and I offer the hospital chaplains for support. 

Sometimes in situations when there is no family around, we still bring chaplains in to pray, or I will pray.  That’s typically how it goes.  

I’ve seen a difference from when I first started practicing, because people trust you more, they understand you can’t fix the situation, and they know that you’re on their side.  It also reminds them that in the middle of all storms, you must stand firm and rest in your faith. . .in God, in Christ, and he will see you through.  

I don’t have to go too far to know how blessed I am in a cancer hospital. I’m reminded every day. 

It’s a topic that really hits home, and I spend a lot of time in this area because of how important it is to me.  

David: That was an amazing answer actually.  Always when I’m doing these things, I’m thinking what is a universal concept?  Beyond we are trying to put this (anesthesiology) program together.  When someone is going to connect with on a personal level, whether they do medical work, but I think it applies to any area of our lives.  

Anything you would like to add in closing?  

Kunle:  I would like to say I think it’s exciting to be involved in something like this.  My hope for this project is that it expands – on God’s time – to different parts of Africa, because the need is there.  Not just in anesthesia, but in emergency medicine, in surgery.  There are so many specialties and there is so much expertise needed.  You have people there who want the knowledge, who want the help, who need the resources.  And you also have people who are unfortunately dying from very preventable illnesses, diseases.  We want to use God’s given tools to help.  Those tools are knowledge.  Those tools are prayer, that’s the best one in the box.  Community support.  The resources that we can pull together from our institutions in the United States.  The great resource in having the Christian community at the soul of all this, that unites us, and I’m very excited about the future.  

David: Kunle, this is fantastic.  I would talk to you all day if you were not going to work.  

Kunle:  Thank you so much.