Ahuno on Bringing Precision Medicine in Cancer Care to Ghana

Samuel Ahuno, a visiting masters student and collaborator at Mount Sinai from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, discusses bringing precision medicine in cancer care to Ghana.

The prospect of utilizing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to detect and study cancer through readily available means is exciting, according to Ahuno, who is conducting genomic research in Ghana under the supervision of Paz Polak, PhD, of Mount Sinai. Although their research has just begun, it may be beneficial to expand to larger prospective studies that will utilize ctDNA samples and validate current findings regarding cancer genomes in Ghana; it may also be beneficial to expand this effort to other African countries, Ahuno says.

Additionally, it will be important to collaborate with clinicians in Ghana to begin utilizing ctDNA testing before it can be implemented at institutions there, Ahuno says. The aforementioned genomic research has helped to lay the foundation for precision medicine in Ghana with the possibility of bringing precision medicine in cancer care to other African countries through collaboration with Ghanian institutes and scientists, Ahuno concludes.