Letitia Obeng

Letitia Obeng
Born	(1925-01-10) 10 January 1925 Anum, Eastern Region
Nationality	Ghanaian
Alma mater	Achimota School
Relatives	Theodosia Okoh

Dr. Letitia Obeng (born 10 January 1925 at Anum in the Eastern Region) is the first Ghanaian woman to obtain a degree in Zoology and the first to be awarded a doctorate. She is described as "the grandmother of female scientists in Ghana".

Education

Dr. Obeng attended a primary school in Abetifi, Kwahu and a middle school was in Kyebi. Between 1939 and 1946 she had her secondary school education at Achimota School. While at school she took the London University International Examination to continue her education, courtesy of a government scholarship at the University of Birmingham (1948–1952). She graduated from the University with a degree in Zoology.

Career

After her university education in the United Kingdom, she came back to her homeland Ghana and lectured at the University College of Science and Technology now known as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology between 1952 and 1959. She went back to the UK to obtain a doctorate from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the early 1960s, where she studied the black fly and its relevance to river blindness. Dr. Obeng was the first scientist to be employed by the National Research Council of Ghana.

Personal life

She is the sister of the late Madam Theodosia Okoh, the designer of the Ghana flag. Her father, Very Reverend E.V. Asihene Anad, was the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and her mother's name was Dora Asihene.