Nigerians all over the globe are proving a point that they are world-class achievers irrespective of their nationality.
Dr Arinze Leonard Onwumelu is one of the model examples of Nigerians abroad who are the epitomes of their professions.
Known as Doctor Zo, he is an emergency and family physician practising in the Canadian city of Calgary.
A Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, University of Calgary since 2016, he is married to a fellow Nigerian, Oby Onwumelu, an immigration lawyer.
The couple who were sweethearts since their campus days at the University of Nsukka are recognised as pillars of the black community in Calgary, raising their young family of one daughter and two boys.
Doctor Zo, who has trained over 35 resident doctors in the last seven years in the Department of Family Medicine, Psychiatry and Dermatology of the university, started his education in his native country, Nigeria, having studied Medicine at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, in the South-East region of the country.
Before spending eight years studying medicine, he had his primary education at Premier Primary School Onitsha, Anambra State and his secondary education at Dennis Memorial Grammar School. He then proceeded to the University of Port Harcourt in 1988 to study Microbiology for two years. He subsequently left Microbiology for Medicine when he gained admission into the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1990.
In the course of his higher surgical residency programme at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RSCI) from 2002 to 2009, Doctor Zo acquired higher diplomas in tropical medicine and musculoskeletal medicine, in addition to MBA from Dublin City University. He thereafter went for a four-year residency in family medicine in Scotland from 2010 to 2014, before relocating to Canada in 2015.
Doctor Zo 51-year-old―born on September 16, 1971, to Chief Eddy Onwumelu, the Ichie Mmili Na Ezolu Ora I of Umuoji, and Mrs Rose Onwumelu―is a titled chief in his native community, who regularly visits his ancestral home. His three brothers, Eloka, Val and Coco live respectively in Houston (US) and Port Harcourt and Abuja in Nigeria.
