MHH alumni to set up corona vaccine production programme in home country
The Professors Manns, Frimpong-Boateng and Haverich (from left); Copyright: MHH / Karin Kaiser
18.02.2022
A delegation from Ghana in West Africa led by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng is currently visiting Hannover Medical School (MHH). During their visit, the West African experts have focused their attention on SARS-Cov-2/COVID 19 research and treatment at MHH. Professor Frimpong-Boateng was asked by the Ghanaian President to develop a strategy for setting up a vaccine production factory in the country. Before the delegation now arrives in Lower Saxony, they visited the BioNTech company in Mainz. "We are pleased to be able to present our colleagues from Ghana with insights into our findings and structures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Infectiology is known to be one of our focal points in research and patient care, emphasises MHH President Professor Dr Michael Manns.
The surgeon Professor Frimpong-Boateng is considered a pioneer of cardiothoracic surgery in his home country and has established the National Cardiothoracic Centre and the Ghana Red Cross Society in the capital Accra. He had previously received his training at the MHH from 1978 to 1988. Since then, he has maintained close contacts with the university and especially with Professor Dr Axel Haverich, Director of the Clinic for Cardiac, Thoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery. "When he asked us if we could support him in this big task, I immediately agreed," says Professor Haverich - and the heart surgeon has been able to win over all the leading figures in SARS-Cov-2/COVID 19 research and treatment for a professional exchange, in addition to the MHH Executive Board. The programme also includes a visit to two vaccine manufacturers in Lower Saxony.
Professor Frimpong-Boateng greatly appreciates the commitment of his former training institution. "It is always a pleasure to visit the MHH, an institution that has given so much to my country Ghana," says the former MHH employee. "I wish that the path Professor Haverich and I have taken to deepen the medical training exchange between Germany and Ghana will continue for generations to come." He hopes to use the knowledge gained in Germany to establish his own vaccine production facility in Ghana.
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For more information, contact Professor Dr Axel Haverich, (0511) 532-6581, haverich.axel@mh-hannover.de.