Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun

Professor Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun (6 January 1935 – 22 September 1995), was a researcher and neurologist from Okemesi, Ekiti State, Nigeria. Known for discovering the cause of ataxic tropical neuropathy, he was a founding member of the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences and an early advocate and researcher on tropical neurology.

Background Benjamin O. Osuntokun was a pioneering Nigerian neurologist and researcher, authoring over 300 publications and presenting at more than 275 scientific conferences. He was a founding member of the Nigeria Society of Neurological Sciences and a founding fellow of the Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences, helping to shape neurological medicine in Africa. His research spanned tropical neurology, epilepsy, cerebrovascular diseases, and neuro-epidemiology, leaving a lasting impact on clinical practice and scientific understanding.

Education He had his primary and secondary education at the Holy Trinity School, Ilawe Ekiti, the Emmanuel School, Ado Ekiti and Christ's School Ado Ekiti. After finishing his secondary education, he studied medicine at the University College, Ibadan when it was still affiliated to the University of London.

Research and career In 1963, he was invited by Prof Harold Scarborough to spend a year at the Welsh National School of Medicine in Cardiff.

He joined the research staff of the University College, Ibadan in 1964, as a medical research fellow. However, upon gaining a Smith and Nephew fellowship, he went abroad for further studies under the direction of Henry Miller and John Walton, both eminent neurologists in Newcastle upon Tyne. After spending some time in Newcastle, he took a job at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases, Queens Square, London before returning to Nigeria in 1965. It was at the University of Ibadan he launched a productive career, working on neuro-epidemiology and clinical and investigative neurology especially the study of dementia among Nigerians and African Americans. He then mapped out the epidemiology of the neuropathy and was able to study the basic aspects of the neuropathy. He discovered the disease was due to cyanide intoxication. At the time, little was done beyond clinical attention to the disease. His success in discovering the basis of tropical ataxic neuropathy earned him local and international acclaim in the medical community.

Publications