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Meet Professor (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson, first female Vice Chancellor of KNUST

Graphic.com.gh Personality Profiles Jun - 05 - 2024 , 16:35

Professor (Mrs) Rita Akosua Dickson, a professor of Pharmacy was a Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) when in 2020 she was appointed as the first female Vice Chancellor of KNUST.

Brief profile

Born on August 1, 1970, Rita Akosua Dickson is a Ghanaian phytochemist and she became the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST on October 1, 2018 when she took over from Rev. Prof. Charles Ansah.

She is an alumna of KNUST and graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy in 1994.

She undertook her national service at the Department of Pharmacognosy and also had her internship at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi.

Prof. Dickson obtained her M.Pharm (Pharmacognosy) in 1999 and was appointed a lecturer in 2000.

In 2003, she was awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to pursue her PhD at King's College, University of London, United Kingdom (UK).

After obtaining her PhD, she also acquired a certificate in Academic Practice from the same university.

Prof. Dickson returned to Ghana in 2007 and was promoted to the position of senior lecturer in 2009 and subsequently became an associate professor in 2014.

Early life and education

Prof Dickson attended St. Monica's Secondary School in Mampong in the Ashanti Region where she studied for her GCE Ordinary Level examinations and later Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast, for her GCE Advanced Level examinations.

Career

Prof Dickson started her career in academia as a lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the year 2000.

After leaving to pursue further studies in the UK, she returned to Ghana in 2007 and continued lecturing at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

In 2009 she was promoted to senior lecturer and further to associate professor in 2014.

In September 2018, she was appointed the pro-vice chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, making her the first female to occupy that position.

Prior to her appointment as pro-vice-chancellor, she was the dean of the faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences.

Prof Dickson currently serves as a board member of the Pharmacy Council and Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana.

She started her four-year term as Vice-Chancellor of KNUST from August 1, 2020

Her work as a phytochemist covers the areas of bioactive natural products in the management of communicable and non-communicable diseases.

more to follow...