Taopheeq Bamidele Rabiu graduated with the M.B.Ch.B. degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, in 2000. He trained as a neurosurgeon at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, under the directorship of Professor Mathew Temitayo Shokunbi and received the fellowship of the West African College of Surgeons in 2010 as the college’s best graduating fellow in the Faculty of Surgery for which he was awarded the Olajide Ajayi gold medal.
He pioneered full-time rural neurosurgical practice in Nigeria at the Federal Medical Centre, Ido-Ekiti, in late 2010. In 2011, he received the International Development and Education Award (IDEA) of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), which enabled him to attend the society’s meeting in Chicago, USA and undergo a short observership at the Dana Farber Cancer Centre and the Brighams &Women Hospital, Boston, MA, USA under the mentorship of Professor Patrick Wen and Dr Eudocia Quant.

He joined the LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Nigeria, in June 2012 to set up a full-fledged neurosurgery programme. His research interests include endoscopic management of hydrocephalus, traumatic brain injury, low-cost spinal instrumentation and paediatric brain tumours.
He was the 2012 recipient of the Globus Travelling Fellowship of the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine (ISSLS) through which he trained under Professor Wilco Peul and his team at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), Leiden and the Medisch Centrum Haangladen, The Hague, both in The Netherlands in 2012/2013.
He received the 2012 Young Physician Leaders (YPL) award of the Inter-Academy Medical Panel along with twenty other global leaders having been nominated by the Nigerian Academy of Science. Through this, he participated in the 2012 World Health Summit in Berlin. He was invited back to Berlin in 2014 as an alumnus of the IAMP YPL programme to mentor another set of global leaders and also chair the YPL session at the World Health Summit.
He was the General Secretary of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Osun State Branch from 2014-2016. Some of his other distinctions and awards include:
a. UNESCO National Essay Competition Award (2nd position), 1993
b. Neimeth Cardiovascular Award Medical Pharmacy Undergraduate Scholarship (CAAMPUS) National Hypertension Essay Competition Award, 1998 & 1999
c. Mr Reliable Award, 2000/2001 House Officers, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Wesley Guild Hospital Unit, Ilesa, Nigeria, 2001
d. Commendation Award, National Youth Service Corps, Sokoto State, 2002
e. Most Dedicated Doctor Award, Association of Resident Doctors, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State 2005
f. Life membership award, Association of Resident Doctors, LAUTECH Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Osun State 2015