Kwaku Ohene-Frempong

Kwaku Ohene-Frempong (13 March 1946 – 7 May 2022) was a Ghanaian pediatric hematologist-oncologist and an expert in sickle cell disease (SCD). Ohene-Frempong grew up in Ghana and was a standout athlete in track-and-field, later competing for Yale University as well as Ghana at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. He continued his medical training in the United States, where he completed medical school, pediatrics residency and a pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship. With a professional interest in SCD, Ohene-Frempong was a physician and involved in public health initiatives at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, and later the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) in Pennsylvania. He continued professional relationships with Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana where he later became a full-time physician after retiring from CHOP. In Ghana, he established public health initiatives for SCD screening in newborns, as well as an SCD clinic for patients with the disease.

Early life, education, and athletics

Ohene-Frempong was born on 13 March 1946 in Kukurantumi, Eastern Region, Gold Coast (now Ghana) to Kwasi Adde Ohene, a cocoa farmer, and Adwoa Odi Boafo.

After graduating from Prempeh, Ohene-Frempong was one of 16 Ghanaian students to receive a scholarship from the United States Agency for International Development-supported African Scholarship Program of American Universities, which he used to attend Yale University for his undergraduate studies. He graduated with a B.S. in biology in 1970. While at Yale, he was a standout athlete on the track-and-field and soccer teams, on which he competed for four and three years respectively.

Ohene-Frempong attended Yale School of Medicine, earning his M.D. degree in 1975. As part of his M.D. requirements, he completed a thesis entitled "Child Health in a Ghanaian Community", based on some of his work at KATH. In his position there, he founded the Tulane Sickle Cell Center of Southern Louisiana and served as Medical Director there. The study found that a leading cause of pediatric mortality in SCD was cerebrovascular clots, causing strokes in children. Subsequent studies identified patients sub-groups at high risk of cerebrovascular complications in SCD, and that interventions such as blood transfusions could prevent these complications and decrease mortality in children with SCD.

Awards and honors

In 2010, he was awarded the Order of the Volta, awarded for outstanding service to the country of Ghana. In 2015, he received the Millennium Excellence Award in Medicine. In 2020, he received the Assistant Secretary of Health Exceptional Service Medal. In 2021, he received the Stratton Award for Translational and Clinical Science from The American Society for Hematology.

Ohene-Frempong also received several awards for his accomplishments in athletics. In 1999, he was inducted into the International Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame in its first year of existence, as well as an NCAA Silver Anniversary Award in 2000.

Personal life

Ohene-Frempong married Janet Williams on 6 June 1970. Together they had two children, Kwami and Afia. Their son Kwame, who was born in 1972 while Ohene-Frempong was a medical student at Yale, was born with SCD. The diagnosis, as well as the realization during medical school that other family members had previously undiagnosed SCD, inspired Ohene-Frempong to make the disease the focus of his professional career. Kwame died due to complications of the disease in 2013.

Ohene-Frempong died on 7 May 2022 of metastatic lung cancer.