WAGMC demonstrates commitment to improving access to genetic health in Ghana | General News

Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana says the West Africa Genetic Medicine Centre (WAGMC) has demonstrated commitment to improving access to genetic health in Ghana through community engagement.

She said in 2020, the Centre provided free genetic testing and screening for over 2,000 people in the Eastern Region of Ghana in collaboration with the Okyenhene Osagyefuo Nana Amoatia Ofori Panin.

The Vice-Chancellor was speaking at the inauguration of the Centre’s WAGMC Genomic Medicine Building at the University of Ghana to enhance learning and research.

She commended Prof. Fiifi Ofori-Acquah, the centre’s Director, and the hardworking team behind this project from conceptualization to completion for their good work.

The $1.5 million WAGMC building complex offers a 2,800-square-meter working space, including a 220-square-meter open laboratory, a 200-seater auditorium, a biorepository, multiple smart classrooms, a genetic counselling clinic, a graduate room, a boardroom, and administrative and faculty offices.

The building was funded by the Government through the World Bank’s Africa Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE IMPACT) Project.

WAGMC is an Africa Higher Education Centre of Excellence (ACE) in the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana.

Professor Amfo said the completion of the project was a testament to the power of engagement and partnership and would contribute tremendously to the realization of the University’s strategic priorities particularly transformative student experience, impactful research, engagement and partnerships.

She said the completion of the building was a major milestone towards the accomplishment of the Centre’s goal of becoming a global hub for genomics training and research in Africa.

She said as a University with the vision to achieve global impact through innovative research, teaching and learning, using a technology-driven and people-centred approach, it was proud of the niche WAGMC was creating for itself as a beacon of excellence in the study of genomics not only in Ghana but within the sub-region.

The Vice-Chancellor said at its core, this research Centre embodies the University’s commitment to advancing cutting-edge knowledge and solving the challenges of our time.

“This is a space where curiosity will be nurtured, questions will be asked, and answers will be found and it is a space where bold ideas will take root and grow into solutions that will have real-world impact,” she added.

The Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum commended the Director of the Centre for his leadership in driving the Centre to become a research hub in the sub-region.

He said the government, through the National Research Fund, would create an environment where the Centre’s work could be supported.

He said new courses were being introduced so that the country could be part of the fourth industrial revolution and currently students have begun a course in biomedical sciences in high school, and they belong to the Centre.

Prof. Ofori-Acquah said the Centre had provided graduate fellowships in the form of Masters, and PhD and given out laptops, travel and top-up fellowships within a five-year period to 173 beneficiaries amounting to 1,242,500 dollars.

He said WAGMC’s focus was on education and training, research and community engagement.

Source: Peacefmonline.com

 

 

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