Susan Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s first female doctor. Susan Ofori-Atta, later known as Susan de-Graft Johnson, was Ghana’s first female doctor and rose through the ranks to become a pediatrician on the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
Early Life
Susan Ofori-Atta was born in Kyebi, Gold Coast (now Ghana), in 1917 to Nana Sir Ofori Atta I, Okyenhene and Grand Chief of the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area, and his wife, Nana Akosua Duodu.
Susan began her primary education at St. Mary’s Convent, Elmina (1921) and excelled so much that at the age of 12, she entered Achimota Secondary School in 1929, just two years after Achimota College opened in 1927. She was one of the pioneering students.
Throughout her years at Achimota, she was among the top of her class and demonstrated such excellence and brilliance in her academic work that she was one of the few women to reach her final year and pass the Cambridge School Certificate Examinations. Susan also served as Head Girls’ Prefect in her final year.
Career
Susan Ofori-Atta subsequently practiced midwifery in Korle-Bu during her higher education, then continued her education at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, where she obtained her MB, Ch.B. in 1949.
Furthermore, her quest for greater knowledge about the problem of malnutrition in children led her to medical research on child malnutrition.
Her research findings, therefore, were named “Kwashiokor,” a Ga word that has since become part of the medical vocabulary. In 1960, she volunteered at an understaffed Congolese hospital.
During her tenure as a medical officer at the Princess Marie Louise Hospital, she earned the nickname “mmofra doctor” (pediatrician).
When the University of Ghana Medical School was established, she left the Princess Marie Louise Hospital to join the faculty. Susan later became a founding member of the Department of Pediatrics.
Consequently, she retired from the Medical School and established her own clinic, known as the Accra Clinic, and was also a member of the 1969 Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution for Ghana’s Second Republic.
She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University of Ghana in 1974 for her pioneering research on child malnutrition.
Family
She married E.V.C. de Graft-Johnson, an Accra-based lawyer and close relative of Joseph W.S. de Graft-Johnson, Vice President of Ghana from 1979 to 1981.
Then, in July 1985, Susan de-Graft-Johnson died in England of natural causes.
Legacy
Among her many legacies, Susan Ofori-Atta was honored by Achimota School, having named a girls’ dormitory after her.