You Can be That Woman Doing Amazing Things! You’ve Got All it Takes - Elsie Effah Kaufmann

We all want to be amazing and do amazing things. The path to amazing may not be an easy one to tread. However, it is always worth treading this path. By doing that extra and doing things people feel you cannot do, you would easily move from being an ordinary individual to being the extraordinary individual that is full of value. Dr Kaufmann exemplifies just how possible it is for women to shine no matter where they are.

At Brighter Investment we believe that every talented student should be able to pursue higher education and build a brighter future for them and their community. Sometimes it helps to have a role model, a star to aim for, and that’s why we’ve decided to use this platform to showcase the women we admire at Brighter Investment: Elsie Effah Kaufmann is a senior lecturer and the founding Head of the Biomedical Engineering  Department at the University of Ghana.

Although already a leading science student at Aburi Girls’ Senior High School, Dr Kaufmann knew a little about almost everything in the world. She attributes her accomplishments to an essay competition she popularly refers to as ‘the non-science problem of the day that changed her life’. According to her, that international relations question on world peace marked the beginning of her determined and purposeful adventure into the world of science and engineering.

Dr Kaufmann was the recipient of the University of Ghana’s Best Teacher Award for the Sciences in 2009. She won the prestigious International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation Fellowship 2011 and was recognized 2017 as the Impact Africa Summit Laureate for Education in Ghana. In 2018, Dr Kaufmann became the first female recipient of the Golden Torch Award for International Academic Leadership at the 44th Annual National Society of Black Engineers’ Conference. 

Dr Kaufmann has been involved in science education at all levels and has been the Quiz Mistress of the Ghana National Science and Mathematics Quiz TV Program since 2006.