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Prof. Kwaku Ohene-Frempong: A man devoted to serving humanity
The Ghana Physicians and Surgeons Foundation of North America (GPSF) recently announced the passing of Prof. Kwaku Ohene-Frempong who was the President of the Sickle Cell Foundation of Ghana.
Tributes have poured in for the renowned professor who has been described as a man “devoted to Ghana and humanity” for his contribution, in diverse ways, to the management of sickle cell disease globally.
As the GPSF prepares a video collage and other tributes, The Spectator delves into the life and career of the Professor, as captured by the Ghanaian American Journal.
Background
Kwaku Ohene-Frempong, M.D., born in Kukurantumi, the capital of Abuakwa North Municipal Assembly in the Eastern Region, Ghana, arrived in the United States in 1966 to study medicine at Yale University. He served as the Senior Prefect of the Prempeh College, Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, where he completed both his Ordinary and Advanced-level studies.
As an International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Famer and a “Renaissance Man,” he began his athletic career at Prempeh, where he won three national track titles and was a Ghana national high school champion in the long jump, triple leap, and high hurdles.
At Yale, he captained the Track and Field team and set both indoor and outdoor records in the high hurdles. While at Yale, he continued to compete for Ghana and, in 1970, set a new Ghana record in the 110m high hurdles. This record stood for 26 years and was broken at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1970 together with the William Mallory Award for the Best Student-Athlete at Yale. He went on to Yale School of Medicine, and graduated in 1975.
His doctoral thesis, entitled “Child Health in a Ghanaian Community,” was based on the work he did at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (Kumasi) in 1974.
Training
After graduating from Yale, he moved to New York City for a Residency in Paediatrics at the New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Centre. In 1977, he came to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for a three-year Fellowship in Paediatric Haematology-Oncology.
Upon completion of this subspecialty training, Dr. Ohene-Frempong went to Tulane University, where he established the Sickle Cell Centre of Southern Louisiana and served as its first Medical Director. He became the Director of the Section of Paediatric Haematology-Oncology and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at Tulane University School of Medicine.
Dr. Ohene-Frempong returned to The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in 1986, becoming the Director of the Sickle Cell Programme under the Division of Haematology.
In 1988, this Division won a grant from the National Institutes of Health to become one of the nation’s 10 Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centres. Dr. Ohene-Frempong was named the Centre’s Director in 1990. The Centre grant was successfully renewed for 1993-1998, 1998-2003, and again for 2003-2008.
Dr. Ohene-Frempong directed the Centre’s paediatric haematologists, nurse specialists, social workers, child psychologists, and counsellors in the care of more than 600 children and adolescents who had sickle cell disease.
In addition to coordinating this patient care, he oversaw the research activities of the Centre and conducted research projects. Dr. Ohene-Frempong tested new treatments for children with sickle cell disease and developed a project for testing newborns for sickle cell disease in Ghana.
Association
He served as a member of the Sickle Cell Disease Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health (1986-1990) and chaired the Committee in his final two years. In 1991, he was elected President of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, a position that was later renamed the Chief Medical Officer.
He completed his two-term office in 1998 and continued to serve as a member of the National Board of Directors of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America and was elected Chairman of the Board in September 2003.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) gave Dr. Ohene-Frempong the Silver Anniversary Award in 1975, an award that recognised six distinguished former student-athletes on their 25th anniversary as college graduates.
In 1999, he was named an inaugural inductee into the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame together with Arthur Ashe, Senator Bill Bradley, Justice Byron White, Paul Robeson, Plato, and others in November 2001, as part of Yale University’s 300th Anniversary Celebration.
Dr. Ohene-Frempong was selected as one of nine former athletes of Yale as inaugural recipients of the William H. W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award.
He was a full-time member of the Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he was a Professor of Paediatrics.
He was Board-certified in Paediatrics and Paediatric Haematology-Oncology and was an Attending Haematologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Collaborations
In 1993, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. Ohene-Frempong a research grant to develop a pilot project for Newborn Screening for Sickle Cell Disease in Ghana. The first of such screening programme in Africa, this international collaborative project was established in Kumasi and Tikrom, a nearby rural town.
Participating institutions include The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, and the Ministry of Health, Ghana.
Prior to the initiation of the screening programme, the first sickle cell clinic was inaugurated at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital with 10 patients in December 1992. As of December 2003, the project had tested over 158,000 newborn babies in the Kumasi area and enrolled over 2,400 newborns with sickle cell disease in the clinic. Overall, the sickle cell clinic had grown to more than 8,000 patients by September 2003.
Dr. Ohene-Frempong was married to Janet, and they lived in Elkins Park, PA. They have two children, Kwame (who died in 2021) and Afia.
By Spectator Reporter
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Christian Tetteh Yohuno, together with members of the Police Management Board (POMAB), on April 17, 2026, decorated nineteen (19) senior officers who have been promoted to their next ranks based on the recommendations of the Police Council and approval of the President, John Dramani Mahama.
The ceremony, held at the National Police Headquarters in Accra, forms part of efforts to recognise merit, dedication, and long-standing service within the Ghana Police Service, while strengthening leadership across key operational and administrative levels.
The officers promoted from Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) to Commissioner of Police (COP) are Dr. Luke Asue-In-Yeng Zakpaa, Mr. Frederick Agyei, Mr. Duuti Tuaruka, Mr. Arthur Osei-Akoto, Mr. Darko Offei Lomotey, Mr. Eric Ken Winful, Mr. Barnabas Nambont Nasumong, and Mr. Desmond Owusu Boampong.
The IGP and members of POMAB congratulated the officers and urged them to uphold the highest standards of professionalism and integrity in the discharge of their duties.
The Global Network of Export-Import Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID) successfully held its sixth (6th) Exchange Programme, hosted by the Ghana Export – Import Bank (GEXIM) Bank in Accra from March 22 to 23 March.
The event brought together member institutions, partner organisations and Ghanaian public entities to advance dialogue on South-South trade, investment and development finance, while also creating opportunities for knowledge-sharing and institutional cooperation.
Organised as a capacity-building and networking platform, the 2026 edition of the G-NEXID Exchange focused on GEXIM’s experience in developing innovative solutions to promote intra-African and extra-African trade.
It also highlighted trade and investment opportunities in Ghana, particularly in the context of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and broader national development initiatives.
The Exchange Programme forms part of G-NEXID’s mandate to foster cooperation among export-import banks and development finance institutions in support of South-South trade and investment.
This 6th edition follows earlier successful programmes hosted by India Exim Bank (2016), BNDES (2017), Indonesia Eximbank (2018), Afreximbank (2019) and Saudi EXIM Bank (2025).
On the first day, participants were presented with G-NEXID institutional information and received an update on the Network’s 2026 work programme.
There were a series of substantive presentations, including an overview of the Ghanaian economy by the Ministry of Finance, with particular attention to debt-related challenges; a presentation by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), on investment opportunities in the country; and institutional presentations by GEXIM and Development Bank Ghana (DBG) on their respective mandates, initiatives, products and services.
Discussions during the sessions underscored strong interest in sector-focused webinars and business dialogues, particularly in agribusiness value chains such as poultry and rice.
Participants also emphasized the importance of continued information exchange and the sharing of best practices, especially in the area of guarantees.
The second day opened with a presentation on the 24-Hour Economy and Accelerated Export Development Programme, a national economic transformation strategy launched by President John Dramani Mahama in July 2025.
The initiative aims to enhance economic productivity through continuous industrial activity, accelerated export development and strategic import substitution.
As the programme is expected to mobilise both private and development capital, it presents concrete opportunities for G-NEXID members in areas such as co-financing, guarantees, trade finance and technical cooperation.
The programme also featured institutional presentations by guest organisations, namely the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE) and the West African Development Bank (BOAD), which shared their mandates, initiatives, products and services.
Following these exchanges, the G-NEXID Secretariat held bilateral discussions with both institutions as part of the Network’s ongoing membership drive.
Participants further benefited from a presentation by the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB), as well as a showcase of GEXIM’s key pipeline projects.
On the margins of the Exchange Programme, G-NEXID members also held their 20th Annual General Assembly Meeting to review progress and discuss strategic priorities.
Following the event, participants joined the GEXIM@10 International Conference, held from March 24-25, 2026 under the theme, “A Decade of Enabling Export Trade and Industrial Transformation: Resetting GEXIM for the Next Frontier.”
The conference provided an important platform for exploring how Ghana can strengthen its transition from a primary commodity exporter to a more competitive player in value-added trade and industrial development.
Source – G-NEXID
