"I try to engage my patients in conversation beyond just the reason why they are here."
Dr. Fagbemi spends most of his time helping patients fight cancer, which he said is difficult but also rewarding.
“We talk about their family, their work and their hobbies. I learn things from them and they feel like they are not just coming here to undergo treatment,” Dr. Fagbemi said. Usually, within just a few minutes of meeting a new patient and family members, he is able to help them begin the challenging process of making life-changing decisions to deal with their serious illness.
“We have a population of people who really appreciate how we get to know them and help them,” he said. His career in medicine has ranged from his native Nigeria, where there was an absence of a lot of what he needed, to practicing at Marshfield Clinic Health System.
“Here we have as much as necessary to make a difference and we have a unique group of physicians who have seen a lot,” Dr. Fagbemi said.
He earned his medical degree and completed his first residency in Nigeria. He then completed an internship and internal medicine residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He concluded his medical training by completing a three-year fellowship in oncology/hematology at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Dr. Fagbemi joined the Health System in 2002.
His interests outside medicine include playing chess nearly every day online, roaming through the woods surrounding his house and learning to use new forms of technology. He recently developed an interest, after talking to a patient, in flying radio-controlled airplanes.
His wife, Buki, is a pastor who holds a degree in industrial design and recently earned a doctor of pharmacy degree. They have three grown children.