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UMAPS Impact

The UMAPS program has helped retain and strengthen its faculty alumni in African institutions of higher education and empowered them to contribute to international academic networks and set their own research agendas in response to global challenges. ASC highlights some of the UMAPS alumni experiences and accomplishments below.

The episode explores current efforts to increase the representation of Africa-based authors in international journals and what more can be done. We address the importance of publishing in these journals for career opportunities, and what declining rates of acceptance for Africa-based academics means for scholarship from the continent.

Speakers: Ryan Briggs, Christine Feak, Henrike Florusbosch, Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda, Andy Nobes, Naomi Pendle

Speakers: UMAPS alumni Emmanuel Danquah, 2009-10 Scholar (Ghana); Anne Oguttu, 2008-09 Scholar (South Africa); Telteltee Sayndee, 2010-11 Scholar (Liberia); David Kenkpen, 2010-11 Scholar (Liberia); and Ruth Mampane, 2010-11 Scholar (South Africa)

Jody Lori is associate dean in global affairs and community engagement, and professor of nursing. She is the U-M faculty collaborator to Veronica Dzomeku, 2017-2018 UMAPS, and a senior lecturer and head of nursing at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in Ghana.  

Lilian Duku (Ghana), 2013-14 Scholar

Lilian Duku, an assistant lecturer in hematology at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, proposed to pursue research in blood transfusion science. During her six-month stay, she received training in antibody screening and identification as a means of improving the safety of blood transfusions and reducing alloimmunization rates. Interested in reducing morbidity and mortality among patients with sickle cell disease back home in Ghana, she spent part of her residency analyzing the success rate of the antigen matching program at the U-M Blood Bank. She discovered that antigen matching reduced the alloimmunization rates in patients here by a full 50%. Armed with this knowledge, she is determined to introduce antigen matching back home in Ghana to improve sickle cell treatment (which afflicts 25% of the Ghanaian population, in contrast to only 1% of the US population). The short video above features Lilian's work at U-M.