By Ishmael Junourgh 
From a gas-lit childhood home in Likpe to the highest rank of Chief Research Scientist, Dr Rose’s journey is one of curiosity, resilience, family support and service to Africa.
At four years old, most children are still finding their way into the world of formal schooling. For Dr Rose, however, the classroom came early, and almost by accident.
When her six-year-old brother was preparing to enter Class One, little Rose would cry whenever he left for school, insisting that she wanted to go with him.
“She used to cry that I will also go with him,” she recalls with laughter.
Eventually, a teacher relented.
“So the teacher said I should come. So I also started Class One with him.”
That seemingly ordinary childhood moment marked the beginning of an extraordinary educational journey, one that would eventually take the young girl from Likpe to the highest professional rank of Chief Research Scientist and into major food safety and nutrition initiatives across Ghana, Africa and the wider world.
A childhood rooted in Likpe
Dr Rose was born at Korle Bu in Accra, although her early childhood was largely spent in the Volta Region, where her father worked as a teacher.
Her father first taught at Kpando Secondary School. The family subsequently moved to Lolobi, where he spent a short period, before moving to Likpe, their ancestral home.
Today, Likpe is part of the Oti Region, but Dr Rose’s childhood memories are rooted in a time when the area was part of the Volta Region.
She is proudly Guan and is quick to correct the common assumption that people from the area are Ewe.
“We are from Likpe. We are Guans,” she explains.
Likpe, Akpafu, Santrokofi and Lolobi form part of the Guan communities, although each has its own language.
“In Likpe, the language we speak is called Sekpele.”
Even the simplest greeting carries the distinctiveness of the language.
“Good morning” is Osiɛ, to which the response is Osiɛ o.
For Dr Rose, the language and culture of Likpe remain important parts of her identity.
A childhood surrounded by books
Life in Likpe during her childhood was modest. Although the community had electricity, her family still relied on a gas lamp for lighting.
But what could have been a limitation became, in a way, an advantage.
Their home became a study centre for children in the neighbourhood because her father had a gas lamp that provided enough light, other children would come to the house in the evenings to study.
“I grew up in an environment that was, let’s say, a bookworm environment,” she recalls.
Her father, a chemistry teacher and university graduate, was a firm believer in education.
He bought books for his children and encouraged them not merely to read but to experiment with what they found in them.
“He would buy books on active science activities and ensure that you have those books and carry out the activities as they have described it in the books.”
Books were therefore not simply school requirements. They were part of family life.
Her father encouraged the children to use libraries and exposed them to information beyond the classroom.
For Dr Rose, there was a deeper reason behind his determination to give his children an education.
Her father was disabled in one hand, which limited his ability to undertake physical and manual work.
“The only thing that he has is the knowledge,” she says.
His own experience shaped his philosophy.
He understood that education could open doors where physical resources were limited.
“We don’t have a lot of land, we don’t have a lot of resources in our area. And so if you don’t have education, then you have a lot of limitation in whatever you can do.”
That message stayed with his daughter.
Faith, discipline and confidence
Alongside books and science, the family was deeply rooted in Christianity.
Morning devotion was a daily routine, and her father ensured that each child had an opportunity to lead.
One week it could be one child; the next week, another.
The practice taught them more than religious discipline. It also helped them develop confidence in reading, interpreting and communicating ideas.
“It built us up to learn how to read the word of God, understanding it, and also preach it… or convey the word to somebody.”
The little girl who would later become a scientist was therefore growing up in an environment that simultaneously nurtured her intellectual curiosity, faith, discipline and confidence.
Science was always the directio
When asked what she dreamed of becoming as a young girl, Dr Rose hesitates.
She cannot remember having a specific profession in mind.
But one thing was clear: science.
“Science, science, science,” she says, laughing.
Her inclination towards science was so strong that even if her teachers had not placed her among the science students, she believes she would have found her way there.
She remained in her hometown until she was 13, before proceeding to Kadjebi-Asato Secondary School, where she completed her O-Level education in 1990.
She then proceeded to Mawuli School for sixth form between 1990 and 1992.
After sixth form, she undertook national service at Hohoe Government Hospital.
It was during her secondary-school years, however, that her ambitions began to take more definite shape.
After completing her O-Level, she had the opportunity to participate in a STEM clinic for girls.
It was her first major trip to Accra.
For two or three weeks, she stayed at Accra Academy and participated in a programme designed to expose young girls to science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to broaden their understanding of career possibilities.
She visited institutions including Korle Bu and the University of Ghana.
Three areas particularly captured her imagination: medicine, biomedical engineering and food science.
Her visit to the University of Ghana’s Nutrition and Food Science facilities made a particularly strong impression.
She saw food-processing equipment and suddenly understood how some of the products she encountered in everyday life were made.
“I was so amazed. ‘So this thing that we’ve been seeing, this is how they do it?’”
Food science entered her imagination. Medicine remained the dream.
When medicine did not happen
After sixth form, Dr Rose applied to study medicine.
She had strong grades and was invited to Accra for the medical school interview. But she was not selected. For a young woman who had always seen science as her pathway, the disappointment could have been defining.
Instead, she adjusted. She had been offered Agriculture, but her interest in food science remained strong.
At the time, she says, students did not necessarily have a comprehensive understanding of the range of programmes and opportunities available at universities across the country.
For her, the University of Ghana was the principal reference point. She had not applied to KNUST.
Her interest in food science eventually led her into a challenging academic path.
After entering the programme, she was initially selected for Biochemistry. But she refused to abandon her interest in food science.
“I said, ‘No, me I want food science.”
Eventually, she combined Biochemistry and Food Science as a combined major.
It was demanding, but it suited the intellectual curiosity that had been cultivated from childhood.
The pharmacy encounter that stayed with her
Her national service experience at Hohoe Government Hospital also influenced her thinking about possible career paths.
She was initially assigned to the pharmacy department.
During one of her early days there, she witnessed a heated encounter between a man and a senior pharmacist.
The confrontation left a deep impression on her.
After the man left, the pharmacist advised her against pursuing pharmacy, warning her about the challenges pharmacists faced within the hospital environment. The message stayed with her.
She was later moved to the laboratory, where a staff member from Likpe recognised her as a fellow native of the community.
He encouraged her to learn as much as possible from the laboratory in preparation for her anticipated medical career.
At that point, almost everyone around her assumed she would become a medical doctor. She had performed well academically, and medicine appeared to be the obvious destination. But life had another plan.
Academia became the destination
When medicine did not materialise, Dr Rose did not abandon her academic ambitions. Instead, she moved deeper into science. “Academia, academia,” she says.
Even when she attended a job interview, she had already decided that, if offered the position, she would still continue with her Master’s degree.
She eventually proceeded directly into postgraduate studies.
That decision set her on the path to becoming a scientist whose work would extend far beyond the laboratory and academic environment.
Today, she holds a PhD and has risen through the professional ranks to become a Chief Research Scientist.
But for Dr Rose, the significance of her career is not simply the title she has attained.
More important to her is the contribution her work has made to academic, policy and developmental issues at national, continental and global levels, particularly in food safety and nutrition.
A Ghanaian scientist on the global stage
One of the milestones she highlights is her participation in the development of the FAO/WHO Food Safety Risk Communication Handbook, where she was the only African member of the team.
Her continental contributions have also included participation in the development of the:
– Food Safety Strategy for Africa;
– Strategy for the Partnership for Aflatoxin Control in Africa;
– ECOWAS Aflatoxin Control Action Plan; and
– Food Safety Strategic Plan for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Her work has also extended into continental policy advocacy.
Dr Rose led advocacy and policy engagement that resulted in the adoption of biofortification as a strategy for addressing micronutrient deficiencies at the African Union and AUDA-NEPAD levels.
For a scientist whose fascination with food science began during a visit to a university processing laboratory as a secondary-school student, the trajectory is striking.
What began as curiosity about how food was processed developed into a career influencing food safety and nutrition policy and practice across Africa.
From research to national policy
In Ghana, her work has similarly moved from research into policy.
She coordinated a project that contributed to the development of Ghana’s National Policy and Technical Regulation for Aflatoxin Control.
The policy was approved by Cabinet and subsequently enacted by Parliament as Legislative Instrument 2428 (LI 2428).
The framework is currently being implemented through several projects.
More recently, she also led a team, serving as the national consultant, in developing a costed Food Safety Master Plan for Ghana.
These achievements reflect an important dimension of her career: ensuring that scientific knowledge does not remain confined to academic publications but can translate into policies and interventions capable of improving people’s lives.
The teachers who saw what she could become
Behind Dr Rose’s scientific achievements are people who recognised her potential long before she fully understood it herself.
Among them was one teacher she remembers particularly fondly: Mr R.T.K. Adom.
Dr Rose had twice attempted the Common Entrance examination without passing.
Her brother, who had started school with her, passed and proceeded to secondary school.
But Mr Adom refused to accept that the examination result represented her ability.
“Rose is so good! Rose is so brilliant,” he told her parents, according to Dr Rose.
He believed her parents were wasting her time by holding her back and insisted that she deserved another opportunity.
His intervention eventually helped her gain another chance through the late entrance examination.
Another teacher, Mr Oko, also recognised her ability at an early age.
When her mother considered having her repeat a class because she was young, Mr Oko tested her reading ability.
His response was emphatic.
He questioned why a child who could read so well should be made to repeat a class simply because of her age.
For Dr Rose, these moments remain important because they demonstrate the power of a teacher who is willing to look beyond examination results and recognise potential.
Marriage and the support behind the career
Behind the professional achievements is a family that has had to accommodate the demands of a career involving travel, research and national and international engagement.
Dr Rose is married to an academic who, she says, understands the demands of her work.
“He has been a great source of encouragement and support.”
Her frequent travels could easily have created tensions between professional responsibilities and family life.
Instead, she says, her husband has played an important role in keeping the home running in her absence.
“I travel quite often but he takes care of the home and children in my absence.”
For Dr Rose, that support has been an important part of her ability to pursue a demanding scientific career.
Her children are now young adults and have also grown to understand the demands of their mother’s profession.
“They also understand the nature of my work so they give me space to work.”
The family arrangement is not one-sided. She sometimes gives her children tasks to perform for her, making responsibility a shared part of family life.
Motherhood as preparation for independence
For Dr Rose, motherhood is not simply about providing for children. It is about preparing them to stand on their own.
“As a mother, I have to ensure that my children grow into independent and responsible adults.”
Independence, hard work and learning are values she deliberately instilled in them.
She wants her children to develop the capacity to make their own way in life and to become responsible adults.
That philosophy extends beyond her own children.
She encourages young people, particularly girls and women, to work hard and acquire skills that can enable them to earn a living in the future.
For her, economic independence is an important part of empowerment.
But alongside achievement and independence, she has deliberately emphasised character.
She says she has trained her children to be humble, non-discriminatory, respectful and God-fearing.
These values reveal another dimension of Dr Rose’s understanding of success.
Professional excellence matters, but it is not enough.
The scientist must also remain human.
The accomplished professional must remain grounded.
And the mother who has reached the highest levels of her profession must ensure that the next generation learns not only how to succeed, but how to live responsibly.
A message to the next generation
Dr Rose’s own journey gives weight to her encouragement to young people, especially girls.
Her story demonstrates that a career does not always unfold according to the original plan.
She wanted medicine.
She was not selected.
She considered food science.
She was initially selected for Biochemistry.
She insisted on pursuing both.
Each unexpected turn became part of the journey.
Her experience also shows the importance of mentors and supportive families.
A father who believed in education. A mother who was herself educated. Teachers who recognised her potential. Mentors who opened her eyes to possibilities. A husband who understands the demands of her profession. Children who have grown to respect her work.
Together, these relationships helped create the conditions in which she could thrive.
From the gas lamp to global impact
There is a powerful thread connecting Dr Rose’s childhood to the scientist she has become.
As a child in Likpe, a gas lamp illuminated her family home while neighbourhood children gathered around to study.
Her father, a chemistry teacher who understood the power of knowledge, filled the house with books and encouraged his children to experiment and learn.
Teachers such as Mr R.T.K. Adom and Mr Oko saw potential in her even when conventional examinations did not fully reflect it.
She did not become the medical doctor she once imagined she might be. She did not allow rejection to define her.
Instead, she followed her curiosity into food science and biochemistry, and eventually into a career that has taken her into major national, continental and global conversations on food safety and nutrition.
Her story is therefore not simply one of academic success. It is a story about possibility.
It is about what can happen when a child is given books, when a parent believes in education, when a teacher recognises potential, when a young woman refuses to abandon her interest, and when professional knowledge is ultimately placed at the service of society.
And perhaps it is fitting that the journey began with something so simple.
A four-year-old girl crying because she wanted to go to school with her brother.
She went. And she never stopped learning.
The Bridge News