Accra, October 6 – 13, 2018.
Members of the Executive Committee (EC) of the Ghana Young Academy spent a week drafting the five year Strategic Plan for the GhYA. This was done under the leadership of Dr. Alice Matimba courtesy of the African Academies Diaspora Fellows Program (AADFP).
Dr. Alice Matimba graduated with her PhD in Human Genetics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Thereafter, she pursued a pharmacogenomics postdoctoral research fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in USA before joining the University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences in 2012, where she focused on health education and research in non-communicable diseases, pharmacology, genomics and ethical legal and societal issues in biobanking and human genomics research.
Alice has been a member of the Global Young Academy since 2015 and is an inaugural fellow of the African Science Leadership Programme (ASLP), which targets mid-career African academics and provides training in the areas of thought leadership, team management and research development enabling contribution to solving the complex issues facing Africa and the global community. She is also a fellow of the Young Affiliate programme for The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and is a strong proponent of the empowerment of African researchers and capacity building for low and middle income countries (LMICs).
In her current role based at the Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses and Scientific Conferences (ACSC), she is leading the expansion of Overseas programme and aims to establish new networks and develop links in LMICs focusing on biomedical and genomics science training.
The GhYA Strategic Plan
Our strategic plan is intended to be a dynamic road map, defining clearly where the GhYA wants to be in five years whiles encouraging flexibility and creativity throughout the process. The plan is intended to drive positive change within GhYA and the community. The plan provides a sharper focus to our mandate in the form of five community‐oriented objectives, driven by societal needs and priorities. It requires us to rethink how we organize our time, talent and energy. At the same time, the plan strongly reaffirms the Academy’s historical commitment to promote science and be a voice for young scientists in Ghana. The plan strengthens our commitment to science leaders as essential drivers of innovation and positive change in our community.
