Dr Johansen Oduor is a household name in Kenya. The government pathologist is always in the news during autopsies, when investigating deaths of public concern.
However, unknown to many, Dr Oduor was not always comfortable around the dead.
After his first encounter with a dead person during his first year at the Nairobi University medical school, he almost switched courses because of nightmares.
In a past interview, he stated that he overcame his fear and ended up loving surgery in school detailing that dealing with the dead for him was like any other job.
“I remember my anatomy professor, the late Prof Kimani, telling us to divide ourselves into groups of seven. Each group was assigned a body that we were to dissect for the next two years.
“It was really traumatic. But I told myself, ‘Well this is what it takes to be a doctor’,” he stated in a past interview with the Standard.
During his time in medical school, his favourite lecturer was the late Prof George Magoha because he was approachable.
“I made my first coin in campus working as a morgue attendant at Chiromo during school holidays after my first year,” he added.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Nairobi in 2000 before pursuing Mmed in Pathology in 2008.
He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law from the University of Nairobi and was in 2016 elected President of the African Society of Forensic Medicine.
Regarding his job in the government, Dr Oduor detailed that it is challenging sometimes especially when dealing with high-profile cases or in events of mass disasters because of the high expectations from the public.
“There are also many conspiracy theories with many suspicions, especially since you work for the government.
“I believe that there has to be some level of stress in each and every profession and in order for one to overcome the stress, one has to get regular counselling,” he stated.
Oduor wakes up at 5:00 AM to do some reading up to 6:00 AM when he begins preparations. He gets to his office by 7.30 AM.
"When I'm on autopsy duty, I have meetings with my staff, respond to emails, and go to autopsies.
“On other days, I travel to court as an expert witness. There is also a significant amount of travel within the country to attend court, exhumations, autopsies, technical support to pathologists in the counties, and meetings,” Oduor noted.
When he gets home in the evenings, he stated that he reads or does his report until midnight.
Aside from his work, Oduor stated that he was a social man with many friends.
“When I am not busy, I spend my weekends with my family. I occasionally enjoy 'nyama choma' with friends,” he stated.
“In campus, for fun, I travelled or went clubbing to Visions Club along Kimathi Street and Zig-Zag in Hurlingam,” he added.
Despite his line of work, Dr Oduor believes that there is life after death and would not want to witness an autopsy of his close relative.
