Oluwaferanmi O. Okanlami, M.D., M.S.

Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami is an Assistant Professor of Family Medicine with a joint appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and serves as the Director For Medical Student Success in the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion. Born in Nigeria before immigrating to the US at a young age, he attended high school at Deerfield Academy and earned his undergraduate degree from Stanford University where he also ran Track & Field serving as captain his last two seasons and achieving Academic All American recognition.

Dr. Okanlami then earned his M.D. from the University of Michigan before matching into Yale University's Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program. At the beginning of his 3rd year he suffered a spinal cord injury, paralyzing him from thechest down. After two surgeries and intense rehabilitation, he was blessed with some return of motor function.

Dr. Okanlami went on to earn a Master’s degree in Engineering, Science, and Technology Entrepreneurship from The University of Notre Dame, and completed his Family Medicine Residency at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Indiana. He served on the St. Joseph County Board of Health, appointed by Mayor Pete Buttigieg and is the VP of the River City Challenged Athletes, a non-profit that supports the local adaptive sports teams including wheelchair basketball and sled hockey. He was the chairman of the capital campaign for St. Joseph County Clubhouse, a community organization for people with serious mental illness, and is the Director of Design the Future: Midwest, a summer program that teaches high school students to utilize design thinking and entrepreneurship to create solutions for problems facing people with disabilities.

He was awarded one of Michiana’s 2017 Forty under Forty awards and has a catch phrase, “Disabusing Disability,” hoping to demonstrate that DISability doesn’t necessarily mean INability, with a goal of creating a health system that is both inclusive and accessible for all.

He is currently working to bring adaptive sports to the University of Michigan.