Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Chimsom T. Oleka.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dr. Oleka. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story starts as a super shy, super skinny black girl (Nigerian-American) raised by Nigerian immigrant parents in Detroit, Michigan. My parents instilled in my siblings and I, early on, the value found in the identification of purpose, passion and potential. And like with most Nigerian immigrant parents, the foundation of these was rooted in education – in the attainment of knowledge. “Knowledge is power,” my father would always say. Pay attention to what interests you. Pay attention to what excites you. Pay attention to what you enjoy learning about. Then figure out how to use it to make money, figure out how to use it to make an impact in this world. Let it make a positive difference, to just one life, or many… that you have even lived at all. I have that cliche kind of beginning. “I knew I wanted to be a physician ever since I was seven years old.” But that’s simply because I was invited to consider it at that age as a real and obtainable possibility.
We left Michigan and moved to Kentucky when I was ten years old, due to a job opportunity for my father. In high school – I was busy. I took AP Courses, I lettered in track and cross country and volleyball, I competed in and won pageants, I was active in my church youth group, was employed at a local movie theater and had a few medical shadowing opportunities sprinkled in the cracks. What I learned the most from high school was time management, the importance of prioritization and self-discipline, living “limit-less”, the addictive feeling experienced when “consistent effort generates consistent results”, and the importance of diversifying interests.
I matriculated into the University of Louisville School of Medicine on full academic scholarship. The momentum I had in high school, I maintained in college. I ran track, I pledged a sorority, I competed in and won pageants, I was active in the Gospel Choir, I was employed at various places including a local hospital as a patient transporter and a tour/information guide for prospective students at the University. I initially began in the Honors Program with a major in Psychology, however at the recommendation of my pre-med advisor at that time, I switched my major to Biology. I used my summers, which is something my father taught me. As the Dean of an Honors Program at a local University, he told me to seek out organizations that offered paid summer intern or externships for pre-medical students or those interested in careers in medicine. So I did.
I spent my summers most notably doing Haemophilus Influenzae research in Buffalo, NY with the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, shadowing various surgeries, establishing mentorship and MCAT strategy prep at Case Western Reserve University through the Health Careers Enhancement Program and visited and volunteered in local clinics throughout South Africa as a Medicine & Science delegate through the International Scholar Laureate Program.
What I learned the most from my college experience was focus and humility. I had a lot that I wanted to do, to experience and to accomplish. And it was so easy and sometimes tempting to deviate from that. I learned that, when you have a goal, you are less likely to entertain anything that might compromise your attainment of that goal. The important thing is first: set a goal. The second: focus. The third: recognize that no matter how big you feel or how accomplished you are – you will never be too big or too accomplished to fail.
I graduated from college, cum laude with a BA Degree in Biology. After a year of Medical Education Development, I matriculated into the University of Louisville School of Medicine on full tuition scholarship. In medical school – the momentum changed and the word “focus” took on a whole new meaning. I initially had structured my life around becoming a Pediatrician, however Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health stole my heart.
I matched into the University of Connecticut Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health Residency Program, received phenomenal training and completed residency certified in da Vinci Robotic-Assisted Surgery. During residency, I re-visited the initial charge that I felt had been placed on my life: purpose, passion, potential. I still had a passion for youth and I had developed a passion for Women’s Health. I knew that this link had potential and that my purpose was somewhere within it. I matched into the largest Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Division in the world for my fellowship through Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital, which is also the 3rd ranked Children’s Hospital in the country, located in the largest medical center in the world. During fellowship, I also completed my oral boards and became Board-Certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology, recognized by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Residency and fellowship taught me, stamina. Endurance. And that we are capable of far more than what we think ourselves capable of.
I am now out of training and a full-time practicing Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologist. The momentum is picking up again.
I recently founded, With Love, Dr. Chimmy as a way to organize my public speaking engagements and to allow me, my knowledge, my purpose and my passions to be as mobile, visible and accessible to the community as is desired and needed.
It is all of these lessons learned and more that carried me through undergrad, medical school, residency, fellowship and now to where I am today.
What am I learning now? Don’t do tomorrow, what you can do today. The Sky is the Limit.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
“Smooth seas, do not make skillful sailors.”
Some struggles and adversities are needed along the way, so that we are pushed, and given the opportunity to learn how to work through the struggles and adversities that life inevitably brings. Bumpy roads are hard – but perspective itself is powerful. Difficult paths are also personal opportunities to expand in a way and to a depth that perhaps others might not have the opportunity to grow. There is a phrase I like called “suffering efficiently”. It means to me, looking for a piece, a sliver, a mustard seed of growth in every difficult, painful or tough experience. It means making every experience, good or bad, work for you – to make you better or to help you improve, rather than allowing an experience, good or bad, to continually rob you of something, be it joy, peace, time, character, happiness, effort, opportunity, etc.
There were many ups and downs throughout my journey, the hardest of which was losing my father suddenly to a hemorrhagic stroke the first year of my Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Fellowship. My father was the most influential person in my life that helped me get to where I am today. I admired him. The more I learned about him – the more I wanted to be like him. Losing him was absolutely devastating. It shattered my entire world. It mortalized time and life in a way that felt unpredictable and fragile. It demanded a shift in perspective.
How did I suffer efficiently?
Grief, to me, is a process. It is something that is always there – just some days you are more or less aware of it. Suffering efficiently is asking yourself, “How can this experience – though awful, bitter and painful – make me better? How can it change my perspective? How can I use this to develop my purpose?”.
I chose the name, “With Love, Dr. Chimmy” because I have and will always continue to strive to do everything with or from a place of love. I am a physician, the first Dr. Oleka, MD. The second, Dr. Oleka, ever. Second to my father, who is the first Dr. Oleka, PhD. And I chose Chimmy because that was the nickname my father gave to me.
Suffering efficiently means allowing your pain to push your purpose.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about With Love, Dr. Chimmy – what should we know?
With Love, Dr Chimmy is a public speaking and consulting entity, founded as a way to make the reproductive and gynecologic education, encouragement and empowerment of young and adolescent girls and their caregivers, visible, mobile and accessible to the community, both local and at large.
As a Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecologist, I have chosen to educate and empower in 3 areas of focus, which include: Female Puberty and Adolescence, Resilience Building and Empowerment and lastly, using my background as a former Division I Track and Field Athlete, to focus on the unique pubertal and reproductive physiologic and gynecologic experiences often encountered by female athletes.
I am most proud of getting started! Haha. But I am also most proud of having the opportunity to use what I have learned so far in life to empower, to educate and to hopefully change lives for the better. I am passionate about helping people find, develop and live within their most authentic selves. I am most excited about helping others, especially young girls to see that we all have purpose, potential and passions, and we are all capable of resiliently becoming something bigger than ourselves.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
God. LOL. His favor and direction and grace and provision… without Him there is no way I would be where I am today. Him making the decision to give me the parents and the environment he gave me has been instrumental in helping me become the person that I am. The person that He designed me to be.
Obviously, my father deserves a large portion of credit. And of course my mother, a Labor and Delivery nurse, who I believe also innately planted the seed of interest in Women’s Health in my soul. My parents were my biggest supporters and cheerleaders. Followed by my siblings. We all genuinely want to see each other win. The older I get, the more I realize that such support is not experienced by everyone.
I was also raised by an intense and amazing Nigerian village full of aunties and uncles and cousins who kept and continue to keep me grounded and inspired. The enthusiastic support of Nigerian aunties and uncles is just unprecedented. If you know – you know. They might be hard on you, but they will also go hard for you. And it’s amazing.
I definitely have several awesome mentors and supporters that I have encountered and fostered and developed relationships with along the way, I am immensely grateful for these individuals. They play a powerful and organizational role in encouraging me, teaching me, guiding me and giving me the chance and the grace to learn and grow.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.withlovedrchimmy.com
- Email: withlovedrchimmy@gmail.com
- Instagram: WithLove_DrChimmy
- Twitter: @AdolescentGYN
- Other: https://linkedin.com/in/chimsomoleka/
Image Credit:
Janelle Amosu
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