Ensign College Board of Trustees (l to r): Lowell ‘Rusty’ Snow, Tsiri Agbenyega, Nana Togbe Afede XIV, Dr. Samuel Ofosu-Amaah, Dr. Agyeman Badu Akosa, Emelia Ahadjie, Lynette Gay, Patrick Kuma, Kwesi Dugbatey, Stephen Alder, Dr. Christopher Tetteh (Dr. DeVon Hale not pictured)
On the outskirts of Kpong, Ghana, a campus is emerging on the bank of the Volta River that will be home to the Ensign College of Public Health. The University of Utah, along with its longtime partner in Ghana, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, is working with this developing institution to help guide the expansion of the campus and the design of academic and administrative programming. With generous support from Lynette and Robert Gay, Ensign College is developing into a world-class academic institution designed to advance public health in Ghana and throughout West Africa. Partnering with Ensign College also represents a new level of involvement by the University of Utah in West Africa.
Under the guidance of Lynette Gay, Stephen Alder, who serves as chief of the University of Utah Division of Public Health, is working closely with longtime collaborator and fellow Ensign College trustee Tsiri Agbenyega, provost of Kwame Nkrumah University Health Sciences.
They’ve worked to establish this college as a world-class academic institution, committed to producing impact-driven scholarship that will contribute to global knowledge for community health development and developing workforce resources to improve health in the region.
Ensign College also has engaged other prominent individuals in the fields of public health, medicine, and global development, including Dr. DeVon Hale, assistant dean of the U’s School of Medicine’s International Medical Education, to aid this development process. Working with Dr. Christopher Tetteh, inaugural dean of Ensign College, the team assembled by the Gays is committed to creating an academic institution that will join organizations worldwide that are leading unprecedented progress in global health development.
The formal partnership forged between the University of Utah and the Ensign College of Public Health during the development phase of this institution is now transitioning into a long-term relationship. This will provide new opportunities for faculty and students from both institutions to work together to accelerate the development and use of scholarly knowledge to create healthier, more prosperous communities in places as diverse as Kpong and Salt Lake City. Under the guidance of Dr. Vivian Lee, senior vice president for health sciences, and Michael Hardman, the U’s newly-appointed chief global engagement officer, the link to Ensign College is adding another facet to the University of Utah’s global presence envisioned by its president, David Pershing.
