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Dr. Ohene-Frempong was a young track and field star in his high school days. After graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to study biology at Yale University in the United States under the AAI-administered African Scholarship Program of the American Universities (ASPAU). While studying at Yale, he was selected as a member of the 1968 Olympic Team for Ghana. But it was his academic studies which fostered his life-long passion—medicine. He attended Yale University School of Medicine and learned about sickle cell disease in the course of his studies, realizing that he and many of his relatives had suffered from or were carriers of the disease. Following a three-year fellowship in Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Dr. Ohene-Frempong became the Medical Director of the Sickle Cell Center of Southern Louisiana. He then returned to CHOP as the Director of the Sickle Cell Program in 1986. The National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded a grant to CHOP's Division of Hematology to create one of the nation's 10 Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers. He was named the Center's Director in 1990, a position he still holds today. In the early 1990s, Dr. Ohene-Frempong expanded his efforts in fighting sickle cell disease to his homeland, developing a program which screens newborns for sickle cell disease, the first such program in Africa. AAI conducted an interview with Dr. Ohene-Frempong in Spring 2007: AAI: How has AAI helped you accomplish your educational and career aspirations? How have you applied your experiences to your working environment? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: My selection among 16 students who came from Ghana to study in the US in 1966 was to me a gift I was fortunate enough to accept on behalf of the people of Ghana. If I had not been selected, another young Ghanaian would have been chosen in my place. I have always felt that I owe Ghana a debt that is only payable through my application of what I have learned in the US to help the people of Ghana. AAI: How do you feel that studying in the United States was beneficial to your academic and professional careers? What were the challenges that you and other students in the African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU) program faced studying in the United States? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: Of course, we never know where life would have taken us if we had not been part of ASPAU. I always wanted to be a pediatrician and the education I received at Yale College through ASPAU gave me the foundation upon which I gained admission to Yale School of Medicine. The challenges we faced as African students were not unique. Other foreign students have faced the same problems of cultural and ethnic differences. Academically, I believe most us fit in well because we had all come from very rigorous high school academic programs. Socially, it was easier when one ended up in a school with ASPAU or other African students on campus. AAI: Reflecting on Ghana's celebration of 50 years of independence, how do you feel your generation, and particularly those that studied abroad, have contributed to Ghana's progress and lasting democracy? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: The impact that our generation has had on Ghana has been less than I would have expected. A lot was invested in us but I do not think our human resources have been tapped in an organized fashion to help our country. I believe that if we had found a way to maintain our relationships, our collective impact would have been greater. There may still be time still to organize. AAI: What role do you think education and particularly tertiary education has played in Ghana's development and progress over the past 50 years? Are you satisfied with the state of the education system in Ghana? And as a doctor, how do you see the state of medical education in Ghana? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: I have been a critic of the downward slide in the educational system in Ghana. Ghana had one of the strongest academic systems in Africa in the immediate post-colonial era. In the 1980s and 1990s, the educational system was allowed to deteriorate. We have yet to recover from that collapse. In addition, Ghana has been drained rather than enriched by its educated elite. Government resources disproportionately go to support the westernized elite. Medical education in Ghana is struggling. The two main medical schools do not have enough teachers to cover all subjects adequately. More than half the graduates from these schools eventually leave the country to work elsewhere. I believe the schools can be more creative in utilizing outside human and technological resources to supplement the work of the teachers they have on hand. AAI: Approximately 90% of AAI's alumni return to Africa to live and work, why did you chose to stay in the United States after completing your studies at Yale University? Living in the United States as a member of the African Diaspora, how do you see yourself and other members of the African Diaspora as contributors to Ghana's development? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: I should have returned home in 1970 when I finished my first degree supported by ASPAU. That was the goal of ASPAU. I wanted to be a doctor, so I chose to stay and go to medical school. For both personal and professional reasons, my professional training and career in the US has been a long one. However, the work in the US has taken me back to where I started in Ghana. I feel therefore that although the investment made in me may have taken a long time to pay dividends, it has paid off in the last 14 years through my medical work in Ghana. As a member of the African Diaspora, I always feel that there is a lot more we can do to help improve lives in Africa. We have not done enough. AAI: You have had a long and successful career as a doctor in the United States, what inspired you and/or motivated you to start a health project in Ghana? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: First, I always wanted to work in Ghana. I developed an interest in sickle cell disease because it is in my family and, I learned during my thesis work in Ghana towards my medical degree at Yale that, most children with sickle cell disease in Africa were not even diagnosed before they died. Since then, it has been my career goal to do something about sickle cell disease in Africa. AAI: In March at a Congressional Oversight hearing in Washington D.C., “U.S. Rep Bill Delahunt and Chairman Donald Payne of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health pledged to promote programs to provide additional scholarships for study by Africans at American universities, and to pursue changes in visa regulations that would be permit more travel to America by Africans who meet security requirements.” This pledge is the result of a Harvard study which concluded that visits from Africans as students and tourists correlates in a significant boost in support of the United States in the African public opinion. With AAI programs such as the African Scholarship Program of American Universities (ASPAU), the African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD) and the African Training for Leadership and Skills Program (ATLAS) having ended, do you see a current need for similar scholarship programs that enable Africans to study in the United States? Are these types of scholarship and international exchange programs necessary for building bridges and relationships between African countries and the United States? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: The value of these programs in improving international relations can never be overstated. The US has the most extensive public relations machinery in the world but much of this tends to be applied in a unidirectional manner. Much of the world wants to be like the U.S. People of the U.S. often make no effort or have little opportunity to learn about others. As we frequently see in encounters between the US and other nations, the lack of understanding of others by US officials often leads to avoidable conflict. The building of bridges, especially through young people, has a long-lasting positive effect on international relations. AAI: As more and more African institutions of higher education are increasing their capabilities to teach Africans in recent years, do you think it is beneficial for Africans of the current generation to study in the U.S. versus studying at academic institutions in Africa? Dr. Ohene-Frempong: It will take a long time for African universities to meet the needs of all their qualified candidates. In fact, if the universities were included in the building of these bridges through student exchanges, a small percentage of students could always have the opportunity to serve as ambassadors to the world. In addition, I do not expect African institutions of higher learning to provide the level of education in science and technology comparable to that of universities in the US and other developed countries for a very long time. ------------------------------------------------- Read More about AAI's Ghanaian Alumni:
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