Global Health Giants -Part 2 (Sorry!)

Written by Sellma Mahi, Chief Marketing Officer for AHI

Apologies, we ghosted you all. Sorry — we took some time out to figure out what we wanted to speak to you about next. Whilst we are figuring this out, here is something we promised a while back.

For BHM we spoke about two pretty impressive people within global health: Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE and Dr Charles Odametten Easmon. Today, we intend to (finally) give you that part 2.

Professor Konotey-Ahulu is the first person known to have traced a hereditary disease in his forebears, generation by generation, all with names, right back to 1670 AD⁣ -(that is “who do you think you are?” level of research. Incredible).

Felix Israel Domeno Konotey- Ahulu was born in Ghana. He trained at London University(UCL and Westminster Hospital school) in Medicine in 1959 and obtained his doctorate in 1972. A fellow of the Ghaha Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was awarded the Academy’s Gold medal in 1974 for the most “outstanding contribution to knowledge in the Medical Sciences by a Ghanaian”. It is because of his work on genetics and sickle cell disease. In 1999 he published a paper called: “The Human Genome Diversity Project: Cogitations of an African Native”. Here he traced the sickle gene all the way back to 1670 AD using the fact it was called by…