Ayodele Sangosanya, MD, MBA, is a general surgery, trauma, and surgical critical care specialist, who worked as an electrical engineer before pursuing a career in medicine.
Dr. Sangosanya, the son of a plastic surgeon, had always been interested in science, but hadn’t thought medicine was the career for him. After a childhood spent half in the Northeast and half in Nigeria, he pursued engineering and worked on aircraft systems in the defense industry.
“I didn’t get the satisfaction you get when you are helping people, like you do in a health-related field,” Dr. Sangosanya says. “And when I had the opportunity to work on an insulin pump, that married my interests.”
When he entered medical school, he wasn’t sure which specialty he would choose until he did a rotation in surgery in an inner-city hospital. “I worked at DC General Hospital in Washington, D.C. The surgeons there became role models for me,” he says.
He says he enjoys how his surgical specialty offers him a variety of patient experiences and requires different skillsets. “The more surgery you do, 90% of the cases are the same, so it’s more about focus and attention,” he says. “With critical care, a lot of thought needs to be put into taking care of these acutely sick patients. And with trauma, I enjoy how you see a problem and you fix it. We see people in their worst states, and it’s satisfying to take someone who is incredibly injured and get them back in the community and to their families.”
