Dr. Yeetey Enuameh and Eunice Omanga, doctoral students at the Drexel School of Public Health, were awarded Provost Fellowships for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 academic years. Both students will receive $5,000 a year in recognition of their promise as outstanding doctoral candidates at Drexel University.
Dr. Enuameh joined the School of Public Health from a hospital in his native country of Ghana. As a physician, his dissertation will assess the cultural, socioeconomic and political factors influencing risk taking behaviors of adolescents in Ghana and the development of intervention strategies for these adolescents.
Dr. Enuameh graduated from the Pirogov Memorial Medical University in Vinnitsa, Ukraine in 1997 as a physician. Upon graduation he returned home to start his professional career in Ghana’s second largest hospital, the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. After receiving full certification by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council, he was transferred to the Asonomaso Health Centre in Ghana’s Kwabre District. While the centre was slated for major upgrades, its remote location caused many doctors to shun the facility. Yet, Dr. Enuameh pushed forward, mobilized resources and worked with local leaders to expand and improve the facilities.
Ms. Omanga is preparing her dissertation proposal at the School of Public Health. Her research artfully integrates her prior experience as a leader in the Kenyan sugar industry and her prior training as an environmental chemist with her doctoral training in prevention research. Her project fills a major gap in understanding and preventing environmentally-related health problems, and is of critical importance to rural areas of developing countries.