Professor Solomon Fiifi Ofori-Acquah, a Ghanaian Geneticist, has been appointed to serve on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council, the United States Health Research Agency Council.
Mr Xavier Becerra, the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services in a letter, said the appointment begins immediately and ends October 31, 2026.
The Council advises the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, and the Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute on matters relating to the cause, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of heart, blood vessel, lung, and blood diseases; the use of blood and blood products and the management of blood resources; and on sleep disorders.
It also considers applications for research and research training grants and cooperative agreements and recommends funding for those applications that show promise of making valuable contributions to human knowledge.
The Council may also make recommendations to the Director of, the National Heart, Lungs, and Blood Institute, respecting research conducted at the Institute. The Council meets four times a year–winter, spring, and two meetings in the fall.
Professor Ofori-Acquah is the first Professor of Medical Laboratory Sciences at the University of Ghana and former Dean of the School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences.
His career started as a trainee Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer in Haematology and Blood Transfusion in 1987 at Farnborough General Hospital, Kent, England.
Prof. Ofori-Acquah, who is the Founding Director of the West African Genetic Medicine Centre (WAGMC) became certified to practice clinical laboratory haematology and blood transfusion by the UK’s Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine in 1989.
In August 2022, he was appointed Director of WAGMC, which was established initially as an African Centre of Excellence in January 2019 with him as the Centre Leader.
Professor Ofori-Acquah has developed many educational and training programmes and taught and mentored students across the academic spectrum in multiple institutions in Ghana, Europe, and the USA.
He has conducted research principally in four areas namely genomics, vascular biology, breast cancer and sickle cell disease over a career spanning nearly thirty years.
Professor Ofori-Acquah’s work in endothelial cell biology and vascular permeability catalysed his most impactful research to date.
He has acquired competencies in governance and administration through formal training in an Executive Leadership programme at Emory University.
Professor Ofori-Acquah has served on multiple National and International Committees and Boards.
He holds a joint appointment as an Associate Professor of Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
GNA