Marian Ewurama Addy (née Cole; 7 February 1942 – 14 January 2014) was a

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

ian

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and the first Host of the National Science and Maths Quiz. The first Ghanaian woman to attain the rank of

full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

natural science Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

, Addy became a role model for school girls and budding female scientists on the limitless opportunities in

science, technology, engineering and mathematics Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

(

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

) disciplines. Marian Addy was also a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) is a learned society for the arts and sciences based in Accra, Ghana. The institution was founded in November 1959 by Kwame Nkrumah with the aim to promote the pursuit, advancement and dissemination ...

, elected in 1999. In the same year, she was awarded the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Kalinga Prize The Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science is an award given by UNESCO for exceptional skill in popularization of science, presenting scientific ideas to lay people. It was created in 1952, following a donation from Biju Patnaik, Founder ...

for the Popularization of Science.

Early life and education

Marian Ewurama Cole was born 7 February 1942 in

Nkawkaw Nkawkaw is a town in southern Ghana and is the capital of Kwahu West Municipal, an area in the Eastern Region of south Ghana. Nkawkaw has a 2013 settlement population of 61,785 people. Nkawkaw is also described as a city in a valley as it ...

in the

Eastern Region Eastern Region or East Region may refer to: * Eastern Region (Abu Dhabi): Al Ain *Eastern Region, Ghana *Eastern Region (Iceland) *Eastern Region, Malta *Eastern Region, Nepal *Eastern Region, Nigeria * Eastern Region, Serbia *Eastern Region, Ugand ...

of Ghana, to Samuel Joseph Cole and Angelina Kwofie Cole. She was educated at St Monica's Secondary School in Mampong-Ashanti from January 1956 to June 1960 where she excelled in sports and obtained her 'O' and 'A' level certificates. She also attended the Holy Child Girls' School in

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

. She earned her bachelor's degree with first class honours in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

with

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Ayawaso West Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. ...

. She later obtained a master's degree and a doctorate in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

Career

Addy reached the rank of full professor of biochemistry at the

, where she was not only the first female professor in the sciences at the university, but also in Ghana as a whole country. At the same university, she became the Head of the Department for Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology from 1988 to 1991 and 1994 to 1997. Addy retired in 2002 as a Professor of Biochemistry. During her time as a professor and department head, she was a chair for the Policy Committee on Developing Countries (PCDC) and chaired the National Board for Professional and Technicians Examinations (NABPTEX). She served as the program director for the Accra-based Science Education Programme for Africa (SEPA), a Pan African programme for pre-tertiary science education in the 1970s. She served on the Kwami Committee, a technical committee on polytechnic education set up by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), to study and recommend policies to assist the Ghanaian government in supporting polytechnic education. In 1994, she was a member of a 4-member

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

team of consultants in Ghana tasked with formulating a National Action Program for Science and Technology Development. She was a

board member A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of the

Ghana Atomic Energy Commission The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) is the state organization in Ghana involved with surveillance of the use of nuclear energy in Ghana. It is similar in aim to the Ghana Nuclear Society (GNS), with the difference being that the GNS is a ...

from 1996 to 1998. She served as a member of

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

Regional Expert Committee on Traditional Medicine, and worked as an advisor to the International Foundation for Science, in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. She was the Founder and First Executive Secretary of Western Africa Network of Natural Products Research Scientists (WANNPRES), which was established in February 2002. She had extensive experience in both basic and applied science, lecturing to undergraduate, post-graduate, dental and medical students at the

and subsequently at

Howard University College of Medicine The Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM) is an academic division of Howard University that grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Ph.D., M.S., and the M.PH. HUCM is located at the Howard University Health Sciences Center in Washington, D ...

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. In January 2008, Addy was appointed as the first President of the Anglican University College of Technology, a technology initiative in higher education. Her autobiography, "''Rewards"'' was published in 2011. Together with her sisters, Jane and Elizabeth, she instituted an Award for the “Best Girl” at her alma mater, St Monica's Secondary School. The Ghanaian government appointed her an Officer of the

Order of the Volta The Order of the Volta is an order of merit from the Republic of Ghana. It was instituted in 1960 and is awarded to people for their outstanding service to the country.

for her contributions to science and girl-child education.

Research

Addy's focus of academic research was the biochemistry of herbal medicinal products used by traditional medical practitioners to treat common ailments; especially in areas relating to their safety and efficacy. Her research on the flowering

legume Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...

'' Desmodium adscendens'' used by herbalists to treat asthma and allergies showed that the

active ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. ...

was a new class of compounds now called soyasaponins. This helped verify the use of such medicines for asthma and Type 2 diabetes. Her research on the biochemistry of diabetes mellitus led to the improvement of herbal plant formulations for the treatment of the condition. During her life, Marian Ewurama Addy published 22 research publications pertaining to asthma, anaphylaxis, Type 2 diabetes, and hypertension in relation to herbal treatments.

National Science and Maths Quiz

One of Addy's major contributions to Ghana, and anyone who watched it, was the National Science and Math Quiz show. This quiz show provided senior secondary school students around Ghana the opportunity to compete in a skills math and science quiz. Addy's main purpose in starting the show was to promote science and math to the public and show its importance in daily life, as well as, to influence more children, especially young girls, to go into the field of science. She was the shows first Quiz Mistress and made many appearances to the schools and clubs competing in the competition. Her influence in the general science knowledge of the youth of Ghana led to more females being interested and pursuing

related fields of study. She served as the quiz mistress from 2001, she subsequently recommended

Eureka Emefa Adomako Eureka Emefa Ahadjie Adomako is a Ghanaian botanist and academic who is currently a senior lecturer at the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology, University of Ghana. Adomako served as the quiz mistress of the Ghana National Science and ...

to replace her in that role.

Personal life

Marian Ewurama Addy was married to Ebenezer Charles Oko Addy, a sociologist and former

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

at the

1966 Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonweal ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

. The couple had two daughters, Naa Lamiley Addy-Sadowsky and Lamiokor Esi Addy.

Death and legacy

She died of

natural causes In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinc ...

on 14 January 2014 at the

Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) is a public teaching hospital established in 1923 and located in the Ablekuma South District in the Accra Metropolitan District of the Greater Accra Region, Ghana. It is the only public tertiary hospital in t ...

in Accra. She was buried on 1 March 2014 in

Saltpond Saltpond is a town and the capital of the Mfantsiman Municipal District in the Central Region of Ghana. As of 2013, Saltpond has a population of 24,689 people. Major ethnic groups who lived in the town are the Akan, Ga, Ewe, Ashanti, an ...

, a historic coastal town in the Central Region of

. A science laboratory at the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology at the

, was named the “''Marian Ewurama Addy Laboratory for Medicinal Plants and Natural Products Research''” in her honour. The biochemistry department also instituted the annual ''Professor Marian Ewurama Addy Memorial Lecture'' in her memory. Her research work in the medicinal biochemistry of herbal products made herbal medicine more popular and acceptable to the scientific community. National Science and Math Quiz still occurs every year and continues to bring science to the forefront of the public thought and promote math and science to young children.

Awards and honours

*Shell Prize, awarded by the Shell Company, Ghana Ltd, to the top six candidates who passed the General Certificate of Examinations, "A" Level, 1962 *McCallien Prize, awarded to the best student in Volta Hall, the female hall of residence, 1963 *Waddell Prize, awarded to the best science student, 1962–66 *California Prize, awarded by the Chemistry Department, University of Ghana, to the best freshman in Chemistry, 1962–63 *Fellow, African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD) of the African-American Institute, 1966–71 *Fellow of the International Seminar in Chemistry, at Uppsala University, Uppsala Sweden, 1985–86 *Fulbright African Senior Scientist Award in 1990 * CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year, in 1995, for marketing Science. *The Africa-America Institute's Distinguished Alumna for Excellence in 1998. *

for the Popularization of Science in 1999. *The Millennium Excellence Award for Educational Development in 1999. *Inducted as a

of the

in 1999. *National Award by the Enterprise Insurance Company Limited on the occasion of their 75th anniversary in 1999, for "invaluable contribution to educating Ghana's children and for creating enthusiasm in Mathematics and the Sciences"

Books

* ''Condensation of free lphaamino acids as a pro-biological polymerization system'' (1971) * ''Genetic Demonstrations: Instructor's Manual'' (1980); co-authored with Ebenezer Laing and Carol Markwei * ''Putting Science into the Art of Healing with Herbs: From Smoked-drum Kymograph to ELISA'' (2003) * ''Training the Next Generation of Scientists'' (2004) * ''Rewards: An Autobiography'' (2011)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addy, Marian Ewurama 1942 births 2014 deaths Akan people Fante people Ghanaian women chemists 20th-century women scientists 21st-century women scientists Ghanaian Anglicans Eberly College of Science alumni Ghanaian women academics University of Ghana alumni Academic staff of the University of Ghana Alumni of Holy Child High School, Ghana St. Monica's Senior High School alumni Ghanaian chemists Ghanaian biologists Fellows of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences Recipients of the Order of the Volta Kalinga Prize recipients 20th-century biochemists 21st-century chemists 21st-century biochemists 20th-century Ghanaian scientists 20th-century Ghanaian educators 20th-century Ghanaian women 21st-century Ghanaian scientists 21st-century Ghanaian educators 21st-century Ghanaian women Pennsylvania State University alumni