The Global Young Academy’s (GYA) 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Conference had successfully come to an end and brought with it recognition of Africa’s female science talent in the form of Dr Priscilla Kolibea Mante from Ghana.
To represent and lead them through the upcoming year, GYA members elected leaders from North America, Africa, Asia and Europe – a majority of whom are women – to the Executive Committee which is comprised of eleven members of which two are co-chairs.
As one of the co-chairs for the upcoming year, members chose Dr Mante from Africa who is with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. This is a huge honour for her, for Ghana and the entire African continent as she finds herself among the cream of the crop of globally recognised scientists. Among them are top young scientists from Germany, Italy, Iran, Mexico, Poland, India and Indonesia.
After being elected, Priscilla said it was “wonderful to receive this honour from my fellow GYA members. I am poised for the year ahead and this mandate given to me. I look forward to working closely with everyone as we begin arguably one of the most exciting years for the GYA.”
Dr Mante is also a Google Scholar and a fellow of the Future Science community. She is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology at KNUST and her field of expertise and research include epilepsy, depression, anxiety and Natural Product Pharmacology. She holds a B.Pharm (Hons) and a Ph.D (Pharmacology) degree, both from KNUST. As a registered Pharmacist she is a member of several professional bodies including the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Ghana Young Academy and International Society of Neurochemistry, as well as a founding member of the Ghana Neuroscience Society.
The Scope of her Research
Her research is focused on investigating isolated medicinal compounds for activity against resistant epilepsy. Her current efforts are geared towards voltage-gated sodium channel activity of natural products. This research incorporates the use of animal disease models and whole-cell patch clamp techniques to discover new and potent therapeutic options for epilepsy, depression and anxiety.