Considering the history of the College, this achievement serves as an inspiring precedent which will doubtless motivate women with professional medical ambitions and additionally project the programme with irreducible appeal to anyone with aspiration for it; a plaudit of honour which should not bolted to the unknown. The journey to this remarkable feat had its beginning in Ghana at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where Dr Tannor received her qualification as a Doctor of Medicine.
This was ensued with an enrollment in the Rehabilitation programme at the St. George’s University of London, where she obtained her master’s degree with Distinction, she then, marked her return to Ghana with an application to residency training in Family Medicine at the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS). Still aflame with the zeal for rehabilitation, upon completion of her training she was involved in the setting up of a training programme in Sports, Exercise and Rehabilitation, with the help of Dr Haig and Dr Annan. The programme was accredited later by GCPS. This venture exacted almost two years of her time and bears testament to her resilience and patience. Eventually she accounted to the programme as its first fellow, training at the Komfo Anokye Hospital in Ghana and as well as the University of Minnesota and the University of California, USA.
CAREER
To segue into the obvious, her acquired skills in medicine were actively put to use, rendering purposeful actions as volunteer work at the physiotherapy department at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where she provided care and relief to children suffering from clubfoot. With the support and mentorship of Dr. Andy Haig and Dr. Christian Asare, she established the first locally led multidisciplinary rehabilitation medicine service in Ghana, all the while engaging in lectureship to the benefit of university students who haboured a similar passion for sports, disability and rehabilitation studies. The domain of sports was also not deprived of her attention as she managed the rehabilitation needs of injured athletes and certified players in Ghana’s wheelchair tennis team for competitions. Currently she is a member and consulant in the World Health Organization’s rehabilitation program in Geneva, Switzerland and continues to provide her services to patients. She has also, been recently appointed as the Official physician for the Millennium Marathon.
PROJECTS UNDER HER NAME
Dr. Abena Tannor, throughout her career has been involved in a lot of vital health projects. She honoured an invitation to develop disability and rehabilitation content for a Ghana Health Service-led Adolescent Health Ambassadors Manual. She also lent her support via the provision of rehabilitation information to the creation of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) protocol for managing the COVID-19 pandemic at its onset. Additionally, the Ministry of Health sought her expertise during the development of Ghana’s Universal Health Coverage policy. She is presently working with the Healthy Ageing Team at the GHS to formulate rehabilitation and assistive technology interventions for older adults.
On the international front, she participated in a joint endeavour between the United Nations Children and Education Fund (UNICEF) and the Ghana Education Service, in which she led the content development of the medical and special needs rehabilitation section of a ‘Safe Schools’ manual, as well as the facilitation of its piloting. Included in this effort was the training of teachers in the use of the manual. Prior to becoming a consultant at WHO, she made valuable contributions infused with her experience and knowledge of rehabilitation medicine and work in both hign and low to middle income areas in the USA, UK and Ghana, to a WHO undertaking purposed at developing rehabilitation intervention packages. She is now engaged in a WHO project that will support existing primary healthcare workers including doctors and nurses to provide low-cost, high-impact and evidence-based interventions for rehabilitation where rehabilitation workforce is not available or has limited capacity.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENT
She received an awarded from the British Council for her professional development and the Mandela Washington Fellowship award from the United States. The success of her efforts also gave way to an invitation to serve on the Cochrane Rehabilitation Advisory Board, as well as coordinate work between the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine and the WHO in all regions of the world. She is the local coordinator for the Global Health initiative of the University of Michigan, through which she worked with its university students during their annual visitation to Ghana to develop innovative assistive products such as a hand rehabilitation device and a shoulder brace for persons with rehabilitation needs. This achievement actuated her to develop other assistive products including a foot brace for persons with stroke and cerebral palsy. She collaborated with the American College of Sports Medicine to facilitate the first International Team Physician course in Ghana with the aim of improving the care given to athletes. She serves on the board of the International Rehabilitation Forum and currently has nine publications in peer-review journals.
INTERESTING FACTS
Dr. Abena Tannor enjoys watching movies, sewing, trying new cooking recipes and reading. She is married to Dr. Elliot Koranteng Tannor, a nephrologist, with whom she has four children.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In addition to her faith in God, she credits her mentors in rehabilitation and sports medicine, Dr. Andrew Haig and Dr. Anthony Annan and her husband for their support in all her endeavours. Her family, including her parents, Prof Ohene Adjei and Mrs. Rose Adjei have also, according to her given her especial support and motivation. The College is glad to have featured in her success story and congratulates her for all her attainments.
