He received his initial education in Nigeria where he earned his doctor of veterinary medicine in 1980, master of science in 1988 and doctorate in1997 from the University of Ibadan. With a research fellowship from the National Institutes of Health, Akingbemi came to the U.S. in 1997 for postdoctoral training, studying environmental toxicology at Rockefeller University in New York. His work focuses on chemicals in the environment and their effects on public health, particularly, male reproduction.