J. K. Acquaye

Joseph Kpakpo Acquaye, is a Ghanaian physician and academic. He is a clinical haematologist, and a professor of Haematology at the University of Ghana Medical School.

Early life education Acquaye was born in Accra Ghana, on December 1, 1940. He attended Accra United Primary School and James Town Methodist Middle Mixed School for his basic school education and later went to Accra Academy and Tamale Senior High School (then Government Secondary School) in Tamale for his secondary education from 1954 to 1960. He then studied at the University of Ibadan from 1961 to 1966, where he obtained MB, BS degrees. He completed his housemanship at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) from October 1966 to October 1967 and his residency training at KBTH, St. Georges Hospital in Hyde Park Corner, the Royal Infirmary Huddersfield, and the Royal Postgraduate Hospital in Hammersmith, where he obtained a Diploma in Clinical Pathology. In March 1981 to December 1981, he underwent training in blood transfusion at the East Anglian Blood Transfusion Centre in England.

Career Acquaye worked for the Ministry of Health in various capacities from November 1967 to February 1997. He served as a Medical Officer, Senior Medical Officer, and Specialist at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Cape Coast, Saltpond, Tamale hospitals, and the National Blood Transfusion Service. As the pioneer Pathologist at Tamale, he was responsible for setting up and training the staff in a newly constructed Regional Hospital from 1974 to 1981. He then worked as a Haematology Specialist at the King Abdulaziz University Teaching Hospital from 1982 to 1985, where he published five papers in four years on haemoglobinopathies with the Haematology research team. This experience marked the beginning of his teaching career and involvement in curriculum development. A year later, he was made president of the West African College of Physicians. He received a Gold Medal from the West African College of Physicians, and had the Conference Hall of the National Blood Service headquarters named in his honour as the "Professor Joseph Kpakpo Acquaye Conference Hall" in 2018 for his contribution to blood donation in Ghana.