Professor Ellis Owusu-Dabo is the immediate past Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi. He is a Professor of Epidemiology and Global Health, a Consultant Public Health Physician, and a distinguished Researcher.
As the former Dean of the School of Public Health, Professor Owusu-Dabo spearheaded the introduction of new programs, growing the number of Master of Public Health (MPH) programs from three (3) to seven (7). He also served as Deputy Director and Director of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) into Tropical Medicine for a combined period of eight years.
Professor Owusu-Dabo has been instrumental in securing and managing multi-million-dollar research grants from leading institutions such as the European Union, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Mastercard Foundation, The World Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), as well as numerous bilateral organisations. He possesses extensive expertise in resource mobilisation, grantsmanship, research management, clinical trials, and community-based research implementation.
His research focuses on pandemic preparedness, epidemic-prone diseases, vaccine development, and Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Currently, he leads KNUST’s Africa Health Collaborative, funded by the Mastercard Foundation. As Executive Steering Committee Chairperson, he oversaw collaboration among nine higher education institutions in Africa and Canada, leading to capacity strengthening for over 3,000 primary health care workers in Ghana through workshops, short-courses, and scholarship programs.
Professor Owusu-Dabo is an advocate for inclusive education, having developed and implemented five diploma programs designed for persons with disabilities. He has mentored over thirty young research scientists to PhD and post-doctoral positions worldwide, with a particular emphasis on supporting female scientists who have risen to significant research and leadership roles nationally and internationally.
Professor Owusu-Dabo has over 300 scientific publications, 26,000+ citations, an h-index of 51, and an i10-index of 156, ranking him among Ghana’s top five research scientists. He is also a Perelman International Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and serves on several boards locally and internationally.
