[ 2016-09-01 ]

Dr Francis Ali-Osman

Ghanaian appointed to US Cancer Board

A Ghanaian professor of Surgery and Pathology
based in the United States of America (USA) has
been appointed by President Barack Obama to serve
on the US National Cancer Advisory Board.


Dr Francis Ali-Osman was appointed among other
members to advise President Obama, the US
Secretary of Health and Human Service and the
Director of the National Cancer Institute on a
wide range of issues relating to the US national
cancer programme.

The world-renowned cancer researcher and oncology
leader is currently the distinguished Professor of
Neuro-Oncology Research at the Duke University
School of Medicine in the USA.

In an interview during a visit to the head office
of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Dr
Ali-Osman said: “It is a great honour because
very few people are privileged to have this
opportunity.”

He said his appointment also demonstrated
Ghana’s human resource potential.

Supporting his country

Dr Ali-Osman, whose speciality is in brain tumours
and translational cancer research, has held many
positions in the field of cancer and served on
many boards, including the Iowa Cancer Center and
the Board of Scientific Advisors of the US
National Cancer Institute.

With more than 25 years’ experience in cancer
and brain tumour research, Dr Ali-Osman said he
was bringing his expertise to Ghana to help fight
cancer, which is claiming more lives than malaria
and HIV.

“If President Obama was able to appoint me as a
member of the US National Cancer Advisory Board,
then I believe I have a lot to offer,” he said.

Already, he said he had been working with the
Neurosurgery Department of the Korle Bu Teaching
Hospital (KBTH) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute
for Medical Research (NMIMR) on some surgeries and
programmes, respectively.

Although Ghana faced the threat of cancer, he said
it lacked the infrastructure to deal with the
disease.

To bring his expertise on board, Dr Ali-Osman said
he was working with the NMIMR to set up a Cancer
Research Programme where scientific-based research
on cancer would be studied, while a cancer
registry would also be established to collect data
on cancer cases.

‘Cancer differs by race’

He noted that Ghana and Africa needed their own
research on cancer to ensure effective treatment,
since the disease differed by genetic factors in
race.

“Although the disease is the same, it differs in
race by the genes, but most of the medicines are
for the White race and so we have to start
studying our race, which is the Black race of the
disease, to get effective treatment,” he
explained.

On the Cancer Research Programme, he said the
centre would test herbal medicines and incorporate
them with other medicines to get effective
treatment for the disease.

“Currently, we are working to get partners from
the US, so that a state-of-the-art cancer research
centre will be built in Ghana to serve the West
African sub-region,” he said.

The Head of the Neurosurgery Department at KBTH,
Dr Thomas Dakurah, who accompanied Dr Ali-Osman to
the GCGL office, said there were many renowned
Ghanaians who were doing well outside the
country.

Considering the poor infrastructure at home, he
said it took committed people to come down to
bring their expertise to help the country in the
medical field.

He commended Dr Ali-Osman for his support to the
department over the years and his vision for the
country and urged others to defy the odds to help
their country.

Academic background

From the Navrongo Senior High School in the Upper
East Region through to the Kwame Nkrumah
University of Science and Technology where he had
his undergraduate training in Pharmacy, Dr
Ali-Osman moved to obtain advanced doctorate
degrees in Germany.

He pursued doctorate degrees in
Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Pharmacology and
Laboratory Medicine from the Free University of
Berlin, Germany, and completed a fellowship
programme in Neuro-oncology at the Brain Tumour
Research Center at the School of Medicine of the
University of California, San Francisco.

In the US, Dr Ali-Osman has served in a variety of
positions, including Assistant Professor and
Director of Brain Tumour Research at the
University of Washington School of Medicine and
Senior Investigator and Chief Scientific Officer
at the Hipple Cancer Research Centre at the Wright
State University School of Medicine.

Also, he has been the Associate Professor and
Chairman of the Department of Experimental
Pediatrics and Professor and Director of
Neurosurgery Research at the University of Texas
MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Source - graphic.com.gh

... go Back