IMAGE AWARDS
Two decades of Unity, Culture and Impact.
2015 ANOGUSA Image Awards Recipients
The ANOG Image & Service Award is an honor bestowed on distinguished Nigerians, resident in Georgia, who have projected positive "Image" of Nigerians in their professional and community activities, who have made notable contributions for the advancement their communities, locally and abroad, and who, by their conduct and reputation, have provided a shining example to succeeding generations of Nigerians, home and abroad.
Dr. Edidiong Nsidibe Ikpe-Ekpo, Mr. Olufemi Bab-Oke, Dr. [Prof.] Joseph Ugbodaga Igietseme, Dr. Nwamaka Ngoddy, Dr. Babatunde Olusegun Onabanjo and Prof. Martin O. Okafor have been chosen as the ANOG 2015 Image Award recipients. The three have contributed immensely in their different ways in promoting Nigeria's image both at their professional duties and the community.
Dr. Edidiong Nsidibe Ikpe-Ekpo
Biography
Dr. [Prof.] Joseph
Ugbodaga Igietseme
Biography
Dr. Nwamaka Ngoddy
Biography
Dr. Babatunde Olusegun Onabanjo
Biography
Prof. Martin O. Okafor
Biography
Mr. Olufemi Bab-Oke
Biography
Profiles of award Recipients
Dr. Edidiong Nsidibe Ikpe-Ekpo is a practicing Emergency and Internal Medicine Physician. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2011, where she works as a medical doctor and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Emory University and the Atlanta Veterans Hospital. Aside from providing quality care to legions of patients, Edidiong is a teacher of medicine, shaping the next generation of doctors by instructing them on a daily basis. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, to Ibibio parents, Edidiong has always been committed to the uplifting of her people. Her parents, Dr. Nsidibe Ikpe and Mrs. Helen Ikpe, instilled in her a love of her culture and a sense of duty. She was the founder and 1st President of the Akwa Ibom Youth Association which still continues to give young Ibibios in the United States a voice.
She was crowned Miss Akwa Ibom, USA in 1995. During her reign as the first Miss Akwa Ibom, USA, she toured Nigeria and the United States representing Akwa Ibomites in America. She was invited as a guest speaker throughout the United States and organized community service projects and African cultural showcases throughout the South Florida community. She raised money for scholarships of young students back home in Akwa Ibom and also participated in several medical missions around the world—including Nigeria and Honduras. During these medical missions, she would reach out to crowds throughout local churches and schools—lecturing about public health issues pertinent to the people, including HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure, diabetes, and general health maintenance.
Edidiong graduated as the valedictorian of Gulliver Preparatory School—a prestigious high school in Miami, Florida. After high school, she attended Harvard University where she graduated with honors in only three years. She continued on to medical school at Yale University where she obtained both her medical degree (M.D.) and Master’s in Public Health (M.P.H). In her last year of medical school, she met the love of her life, Mr. Ubong Inyang Ekpo. She and Mr. Ekpo were married in December of 2004 back in their mutual hometown of Ndiya, Nsit Ubium local government area. Soon after marrying her husband, she lost her father, Dr. Nsidibe Ikpe—a prominent physician who was an inspiration to her and many members of the Nigerian community. Though devastated, she persevered, continuing on to complete her post-doctorate training at the University of Los Angeles (UCLA) where she was accepted to a competitive residency program which allowed her to become double-boarded in both Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine. Along the way, Edidiong has been blessed with two beautiful sons: Mr. Nsidibe Ekpo (age 6) and Mr. Unwana Ekpo (age 3).
Edidiong is a dedicated wife and mother, yet remains committed to her lifelong goal of making this world a better place. In her four years at Emory, she has worked as an attending physician in the Emergency Departments of the Atlanta VA and Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s urban Level 1 Trauma Center and safety net hospital for the metro Atlanta region. Her dedication has been praised. Among Emory faculty, she consistently has some of the highest teaching scores in her evaluations by residents and medical students. In fact, in 2013, she was awarded Faculty Advisor of the Year by the Emory Emergency Department. The following year, she was elected as the Faculty Teacher of the Year by rotating residents in the Grady Emergency Department.
Dr. Ikpe-Ekpo has also been influential in reshaping the delivery of healthcare to women veterans of the United States. In 2012, she was awarded two national grants by the US Federal Government’s Women’s Health Services to improve emergency care for women veterans.
Through these national grants, Dr. Ikpe-Ekpo organized the first ever Women’s Health Mini-Residency for Emergency Providers in the southeast region of the United States. Her passion for women’s health care has been recognized nationally and she was invited by the Veterans Administration Women’s Health Services in Washington, DC, to serve on the planning committee for the National Women’s Health Mini-Residency for Emergency Providers where she was a guest speaker. She presently serves as chair of the Atlanta VA’s Emergency Women’s Health Committee.