Cornelius Dodoo

Cornelius Dodoo is the winner of the 2023 Taylor & Francis CSC Research Implementation and Uptake award stream for his article, Development of a local antibiogram for a teaching hospital in Ghana, published in JAC- Antimicrobial Resistance.

Cornelius is a 2010 Shared Scholar and 2013 Commonwealth Scholar from Ghana who gained an MSc in Drug Delivery and a PhD in Pharmacy at University College London School of Pharmacy. His article investigates the development of an antibiogram (a table showing how susceptible a series of organisms are to different antimicrobials) for Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta Region of Ghana.

Antimicrobial resistance is recognised as one of the top ten global health threats, with developing countries carrying the greatest burden. Antibiograms serve as useful tools in managing infectious diseases and reducing antimicrobial resistance.

Cornelius’ article outlines the research undertaken to determine the resistance patterns of commonly encountered bacteria in Ho Teaching Hospital and the effectiveness of antibiotics used to treat these.

His research found that some disease-causing microorganisms were becoming resistant to antibiotics classified under the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Watch and Reserve groups. The Watch group lists antibiotics with a higher potential of developing resistance, whilst the Reserve group contains last-resort antibiotics used for multidrug-resistant infections.

The research was sponsored by the UK Department of Health and Social Care under the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship programme and involved researchers from University College London Hospital, University of Health and Allied Sciences, and Ho Teaching Hospital.

Cornelius’ research has highlighted the need to intensify antimicrobial stewardship in the Volta Region to prevent an escalation of antimicrobial resistance. As part of their research, Cornelius and his team have helped establish an antimicrobial stewardship committee that is championing antimicrobial stewardship in Ho Teaching Hospital. They are also working with four other key referral facilities in the region to build the capacity of healthcare workers to reduce antimicrobial resistance.

At the national level, the findings from their work have been presented to the Antimicrobial Resistance Secretariat of the Ministry of Health which is collating information on antimicrobial resistance patterns to inform policy. Currently, Cornelius and his team are embarking on a series of public awareness campaigns through the media to educate the public on antimicrobial resistance and highlight their role in curbing this problem.

Cornelius’ research contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 3 and to the CSC Development Theme Strengthening health systems and capacity.

The Taylor & Francis CSC Research Implementation and Uptake award stream: Highly commended entry

Oladapo Edward Olaniru, a 2010 and 2013 Commonwealth Scholar from Nigeria, was highly commended by the judges for his paper, Single-cell transcriptomic and spatial landscapes of the developing human pancreas, published in Cell Metabolism. His research contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good health and well-being, and to the CSC Development Theme Science and technology for development.