Instrumental Access 2016
University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana: Department of Biomedical Sciences
The University of Health and Allied Sciences’ Dr. S. D. Waikhom teaches general biochemistry to undergraduate public health students.
Faculty and staff at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana
Students working on a lab
The University of Health and Allied Sciences campus in Ho, Ghana
The classroom block (with the tower), opposite the laboratory block, on the University of Health and Allied Sciences campus in Ho, Ghana.
The faculty research and postgraduate laboratory block at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana.
Meet the Department
The Department of Biomedical Sciences is one of three departments in the School of Basic and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, one of Ghana’s newest public universities. Established to meet national health needs, the university is the only in the country to specialize in training health professionals and scientists. The Department of Biomedical Sciences provides education in biology, biochemistry, biophysics, microbiology, immunology, anatomy, and physiology to the entire student body (around 350 students per year). They offer an undergraduate program in medical biochemistry and molecular biology, in addition to teaching advanced courses. Faculty prepare students to be at the forefront of biomedical expertise, research, and discovery.
Reducing the Burden of Tropical Diseases: Dr. Bismarck Dinko
Dr. Bismarck Dinko is a lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, Ghana.
As a parasite biologist, he has a keen interest in host-parasite interactions and immunity to parasitic infections. Dr. Dinko’s current research focuses on finding key immunity targets relevant to the development of malaria vaccines capable of reducing malaria transmission.
“My motivation to be a tropical diseases scientist stems from the fact that tropical diseases heavily affect the people from the region I grew up in, directly and indirectly,” Dr. Bismark says. “I therefore feel that people who suffer from these diseases like malaria should be at the forefront of finding solutions to the problems caused by tropical diseases.”
Dr. Dinko holds a PhD in infectious and tropical diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2016, he is currently pursuing overlapping fellowship training at the RWTH University of Aachen, Germany, and the Cornell Medical College of Cornell University. Following these, he will hold a Wellcome Trust training fellowship in public health and tropical medicine from 2017-19.