A delegation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the University of Dundee paid a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi to familiarise themselves with the management and operations of KNUST on Wednesday, 8th February 2023 at the Council Chamber.
According to the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Professor Christian Agyare, the purpose of their visit was to interact with the KNUST team which was awarded a subcontract in a grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for developing a Drug Discovery Hub in Ghana , see to the progress of the project and explore areas for future collaboration between the two institutions.
He added that the team would also visit the Department of Pharmacology, the Central Laboratory, and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR).
The team lead of the Drugs Metabolism and PharmacoKinetics (DMPK) Project, Dr. Arnold Forkuo Donkor of the Department of Pharmacology, spoke about the progress that had been made in KNUST since the award of the grant. He stated that one of the four planned axes of the research project had been developed, and they hoped to make further progress in the coming months.
The Assistant Vice-Principal International of the University of Dundee, Professor Kim Dale emphasised her outfit’s strategy to deepen partnerships with institutions like KNUST. She added that they look forward to learning more about KNUST to see the synergies between the University of Dundee and KNUST.
In her remarks, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson indicated that KNUST thrives on four pillars namely; Quality teaching, impactful relevant research, community engagement, and entrepreneurship training. To this end, she said that KNUST is keen on ensuring that the quality of life of students is bettered.
She assured the delegation of the team KNUST’s capacity in conducting impactful research in the Drug Discovery Hub project. ‘We are ready, committed, prepared, dedicated, and interested in taking this relationship to greater heights’, she stressed.
Also in the meeting were Dr. Miles Seigel from Lgenia, Dr. Julie Brady, and Mike Strange from LifeArc, a self-financing medical research charity based in the UK.
Accompanying Professor Dale from the University of Dundee were; Ms. Ellen Brooks; Professor Ian Gilbert and Ms. Suze Farrell.
The team from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were Dr. Peter Warner; Dr. Gang Liu and Dr. Fran Berloiz-Seux.
Also present at the occasion from KNUST include; Professor Daniel Duah; Professor Kwame Ohene Buabeng; Professor Eric Boakye-Gyasi and Dr. Edmund Ekuadzi.
