Dr. George
Acquaah-Mensah, Ph.D
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. USA
Dear Visitor to
our website, let me introduce you to our organization, the Ghana
BioMedical Convention: In August 2007, while at an international
scientific conference in Vienna, I met with fellow conference
participants Dr. James Adjaye of Max-Planck Institute, Berlin, and Mr.
Samuel Kwofie of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute.
Our discussions dwelt on the need to share current thoughts and
practice in science with students based in Ghana and other compatriots.
The idea of generating a forum such as the Ghana BioMedical Convention,
independent of the establishment, was born. Support for the idea spread
very rapidly among our networks of friends and beyond. Ghanaian
scientists at home and abroad responded to the clarion call. After a
lot of hard work by Dr. Elsie Effah-Kaufmann of the University of
Ghana, Dr. Solomon Ofori-Acquah of Emory University, Dr. Winfried
Amoaku of the University of Nottingham, many on the current Board of
Directors, Dr. John Okyere of Nottingham, and others too numerous to
name here, the First Ghana BioMedical Convention was held in Accra
between August 13th and 15th, 2008. There were seventy registered
participants primarily based in the USA, Europe, and Ghana.
More
The unprecedented event brought
together Ghanaian and other scientists, practitioners, and students
from North American, European, and Ghanaian institutions. An inspiring
keynote address on the Opportunities and Challenges of New Technologies
to BioMedicine was delivered by Dr. Peter Atadja, recent recipient of
the Novartis Leading Scientist title award. This was followed by a
variety of presentations centered on molecular medicine, grant writing,
molecular modeling, spectroscopy, biotechnology, medical engineering,
drug discovery, and genomics were made at that convention. Officers and
a Board of Directors for a formal organization, the Ghana BioMedical
Convention, were elected by participants. The Board was charged with
the task of creating the framework for ensuring that the organization
thrives. Thereafter, there was a lot of work done on the
organization’s bylaws by its membership and Board of
Directors. The bylaws were formally adopted by the Board of Directors
on January 21st 2009, following a unanimous vote of acceptance by the
membership held via electronic mail.
The Convention is in the process of establishing affiliations. The
Ghana BioMedical Research Network Inc. is the first of such affiliates.
After much hard work by Dr. Elvis Tiburu of Northeastern University,
Dr. Henry Colecraft of Columbia University, Dr. Martin Safo of Virginia
Commonwealth University, Dr. George B. Richter-Addo of the University
of Oklahoma, Dr. Akwasi Anyanful of Emory University, and others, the
Ghana BioMedical Research Network Inc. was incorporated in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, USA on March 24th 2009.
Among others, the purpose of the Ghana BioMedical Convention is to
bring together local students and foreign-based Ghanaians or other
biomedical scientists and practitioners for professional training,
mentoring, and other activities designed to build local capacity in the
biomedical sciences and create a cadre of world-class scientists. The
Convention seeks to foster interaction and collaborative research among
biomedical scientists and practitioners both within Ghana and abroad
and to provide a regular forum for presentation of scientific results.
Ultimately, we seek to help promote the education, health and economic
development of the local populace. There are tremendous challenges
involved in bringing this vision to fruition.Please join us in this
enterprise.
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