User:Okyerebea/sandbox

Career, achievements & awards
Degrees

Letitia Obeng was the first Ghanaian woman to be awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology and Botany (1952), a Master of Science degree in Parasitology (1962) and a PhD in Tropical Medicine (1964). Her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees were both awarded by the University of Birmingham and her PhD was awarded by the School of Tropical Medicine at the University of Liverpool.

Positions

In 1952, Letitia Obeng began her career as the first female scientist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where her husband also worked as a lecturer. After her husband’s death in 1959, Letitia Obeng moved to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (formerly known as National Research Council of Ghana) and in 1964, she established the Institute of Aquatic Biology within the same institution. In 1964, Letitia Obeng became a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2006, she became the Academy's first female president. In 1972, Dr. Obeng delivered the Caroline Haslett Memorial Lecture to the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Her lecture was titled “Nation Building and the African Woman ”. Also in 1972, she was an invited participant in the United Nations Human Environment Conference in Stockholm. In 1974, she began work as the Officer in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In 1980, she became the Director of the UNEP Regional Office for Africa and UNEP’s Representative to Africa. From 2008-2012, Letitia Obeng served as Chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP).

Awards & Achievements

In 1992-1993, Letitia Obeng was a Distinguished International Visitor fellow at Radcliff College. Letitia Obeng received Ghana’s highest national award, Order of the Star of Ghana in 2006. In 2017, she received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). In 1997, she received the CSIR Award for Distinguished Career and Service to Science and Technology, the first female to receive such an award. Additionally, the CSIR Laboratory (known as The Letitia Obeng Block) was named after her 1997.

Research and publications
Letitia Obeng’s research and publication focus on the environment, health and science education particularly in Africa. Her doctoral research investigated the aquatic stages of the Simuliidae identified as a major transmitter of the parasite for river blindness. Related to this research are her articles titled “Life-history and population studies on the Simuliidae of North Wales” and “The identification of the aquatic stages of the British Simuliidae” In a paper titled "Environmental of Impacts of Four African Impoundments”, Dr. Obeng considers the environmental effects of four African dams: Lake Volta, Lake Kariba, Lake Kainji and Lake Nasser. Some of her other research and publications include:


 * The helminth fauna of rodents of the sub-family Murinae in Ghana. (1965)
 * Man-made lakes (1969).
 * Wildlife in the Volta Basin. Man-made Lakes (1969); co-authored with Asibey, E. O. A.
 * Should dams be built? The Volta Lake example (1977)
 * Volta Lake: Physical and biological aspects (1973)
 * Too Much or Too Little (1975)
 * Starvation or Bilharzia? a rural development dilemma (1978)
 * Man’s impact on tropical rivers (1981)
 * Composting of domestic refuse (1983); co-authored with Rabbani, K. R., Jindal, R., Kubota, H.,
 * OBENG, L. E. (1986, February). Progress of Science in Africa—in Tradition, Culture and Religion (1986)
 * The right to health in tropical agriculture (1992)

She is also the author of Parasites, the Sly and Sneaky Enemies inside You a book written mainly for a non-scientific audience. Besides her science-related publications, Letitia Obeng is also the author of  A Silent Heritage: an Autobiography.

Personal life
The British Organizational theorists, professor and author Edward David Asihene "Eddie" Obeng (born 1959) is one of Letitia Obeng's children.