Dr. (Mrs) Augustina Angelina Sylverken of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR) has been named one of the 12 Frontline Covid-19 Heroes in Ghana.
This was announced when she received a Global Humanitarian Award at Labadi Beach on Saturday, September 18, 2021.
Dr. Sylverken is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). She holds a PhD in Clinical Microbiology from the Department of Clinical Microbiology, KNUST-Kumasi. She obtained her MPhil and BSc degrees in Clinical Microbiology and Biological Sciences respectively from KNUST.
Dr. Sylverken is a member and the only female who sits on a 7-member Committee set by the Vice Chancellor of KNUST to channel a path towards the fight against the pandemic by SARS-CoV-2. She is also the COVID-19 Focal person for the College of Science in KNUST and a member of the KNUST Vaccine Development and Production Committee. She also serves on the Research Coordination Thematic Group for COVID-19 Research in Ghana and is part of the biweekly Ghana National Technical Coordinating Committee’s meetings.
In increasing the testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2 in the Country, Dr. Sylverken has led the KCCR team to establish laboratories in the Northern Region (the Public Health Reference Lab, Tamale and the Veterinary Services Department – Pong Tamale), the Ashanti region (Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital) and two laboratories for Newmont Ghana at their Akyem and Ahafo sites.
Humanitarian Awards Global recognises and awards extraordinary individuals and groups who are making impact in the lives of people, nature, and society in Ghana. The Awards is to identify, honour and celebrate a cross-section of the nation’s most influential and accomplished businesses doing humanitarian works and leaders from a wide range of industries who are committed to improving lives and preserving the environment through their work and businesses.
The KCCR is one of the two designated research centres leading in the testing of cases. Dr. Sylverken coordinates and oversees the testing of samples. Beyond testing of samples, she is involved in educating the general public about the pandemic caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). In doing this, she has and continues to grant interviews and discussions with several media houses in Ghana and abroad. In addition, she has been a Resource Person to the WHO/AFRO on their training programmes on COVID-19. She has also been on a panel to educate over 250 staff of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on issues pertaining to COVID-19. She also served as a Resource Person for the United States of America (USA) Embassy in Ghana during a pre-departure orientation for students who had gained admission to various schools in the USA.
Augustina had her post-doctoral research studies at the Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Germany and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research into Tropical Medicine (KCCR). During this time, she focused on using state-of-the-art methodologies to study the transmission interface of coronaviruses and other emerging and re-emerging viruses of zoonotic origin within the context of the One Health Concept.
