Gordon Awandare

Gordon Awandare was born in Kandiga, a small village in northeastern Ghana. During childhood, he contracted malaria several times a year, at a time when treatment for the disease was scarce.[3]

Awandare was awarded a BSc in biochemistry in 1998 and an MPhil in Biochemistry in 2002 from the University of Ghana.[4] In 2003, he was alerted to PhD positions at the University of Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA) earmarked for African fellows, and moved to the USA just eight months later.[4] In 2007, he graduated with a PhD in Infectious Diseases and Microbiology from the School of Public Health, with a thesis on severe malarial anemia. Following his doctoral studies, he spent three years at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (Maryland, USA), where he continued studying malaria, focusing on the Plasmodium falciparum parasite.

He returned to the University of Ghana in 2010 to establish his own research group.[4] Without start-up funding, he used US credit cards to support his work whilst applying for grants, and two years later received funding from both the Royal Society and the National Institutes of Health.

Prof Awandare was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for Academic and Student Affairs (ASA).[5] The appointment took effect from 1 January 2022. Taking over from Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, Provost of the College of Humanities who was appointed to act as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (ASA) from 27 October 2021.[6] He has previously served on the Governing Council of the University of Development Studies, Tamale, where he was also the Chairman of the University’s Audit Report Implementing Committee. Within the University of Ghana, he has been a member of Academic Board and served on the Business and Executive Committee for many years. Prof. Awandare has also been Chairman, Centre Management Committee for WACCBIP, and member of Management committees/boards for many units, including, Office of Research Innovation and Development (ORID), Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, School of Pharmacy, Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, School of Biological Sciences, and School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. He has also chaired or served on numerous adhoc committees at the University of Ghana, including the Search Committee for Vice Chancellor in 2020/2021.[7]

Awandare's research focuses on the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and the infection it causes in children. His work focuses on both the immune response of the patient to infection, and the pathogenic processes of the parasite itself. In particular, he studies cell-surface receptors that could be potential vaccine targets[8] and his studies use parasites from infected children in Ghana, so that any vaccines developed will be applicable to real-life cases. He was the first to report the possibility of parasite phenotypic switching in invitro cultures when shaken.[9] Prof. Awandare also led significant research into molecular diagnosis of infectious diseases in lower income setting in Africa.[10] In addition, He is significantly pushing for policy change in tackling hearing impairment in Ghana.[11]

During the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic, Awandare led a group of scientist at the University of Ghana and the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research to sequence SARS-COV2 virus isolates from Ghanaian patients.[12] In January 2021, He reported the importation of the UK strain of the virus in travellers arriving in Ghana from other African countries.[13][14] Awandare advocated for the re-imposition of ban on large funerals and weddings to reduce COVID-19 case spike in early 2021.[15]

In 2013, Awandare led a consortium from the University of Ghana in a proposal to set up a new African Centre of Excellence to research infectious pathogens in Africa. The consortium consisted of faculty from the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (BCMB) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), with support from staff of the University of Ghana Computing Systems (UGCS). Following the award of $8 million from the World Bank in November 2013, Awandare became the Founding Director of The West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP). The organization has since received further funding from the World Bank ACE project and the Wellcome Trust DELTAS programme. The mission of WACCBIP is to "improve the diagnosis, prevention, and control of tropical diseases in sub-Saharan Africa by providing advanced-level training and research excellence in cell and molecular biology",[16] with a remit to build capacity by training African scientists at masters, doctoral and post-doctoral levels. The center has expanded to study malaria, Buruli ulcer, HIV, and tuberculosis.  

In 2015, Awandare was awarded the Royal Society Africa Prize, which recognises innovative biological research scientists whose research also contributes towards significant capacity building in Africa. The award was made for "achievements in molecular and cellular studies of malaria, including how malaria parasites invade red blood cells and cause disease".[17] Prof. Gordon Awandare is a visiting professor of immunology at the Oxford Brookes University in the UK in February 2019.[18] He is the current board chairman of the CK Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) governing council. CKT-UTAS is the newly caved out of university from the University for Development Studies in the Upper East Region of Ghana.[19] Previously, He was the government appointee on the University for Development Studies governing council.[20] Prof. Gordon Awandare is also the Network's Chairman of the established West African Network of Infectious Diseases ACEs (WANIDA), which will aim to enhance collaboration among West African health research institutions funded under the World Bank's African Centres of Excellence (ACE) Impact project.[21] In 2014, He was awarded the University of Ghana's Distinguished Award for Meritorious Service at 2014 Congregation.[22][23] He is a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.[24] Professor Gordon Awandare has been named the first Africa Global Editor of the Experimental Biology and Medicine (EBM) journal[25]

Awandare has been a recipient and lead of several internationally competitive grants;