And now ladies and Gentlemen, I have been done an immeasurable honor to introduce, (If he even needs any introduction at all) the recipient of the Jack R. Anderson Prize for Scholastic Excellence, for attaining the highest score in the USA on written and oral examinations administered by the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ABFPRS); Dr Derek Kofi Owusu Boahene........rapturous applause .......Pause.......In the year he won this award, at the event where the award was presented, not many could have foreseen that the achiever of such a feat would be a Ghanaian man whose becoming a doctor was almost impossible to talk of rising to become the go-to person for facial plastic and reconstructive surgery at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, USA.
Johns Hopkins?!!! one may ask in disbelief, Yes darling, Dr Ben Carson's Johns Hopkins. Dr Boahene is at the Apex of Surgical technology and Innovation and in no less a place than the creme de la creme of Quality and cutting edge health care delivery. Yes, he is up there with the Carsons, Walter Dandees, Patrick Byrnes, and Lisa Earnests of our time. As a young christian scientist with interest in craniofacial and reconstructive surgery, I can't help but be in awe of how much one can achieve with determination, a passion for excellence and God's divine guidance.
Growing up on the African continent, it is easier to fall for and follow the masses citing excuses like; It can't be done, Its impossible and its too difficult. Whenever, I hear some motivational speakers speak on topics that are geared towards getting African youth to rise and fulfill their potential, I find it quite surprising that most of the time, Almost all the examples of high Achievers that are discussed and suggested to be picked as role models are non - Africans.
This is not to say Non - African achievers cannot motivate African youth but If you want to want to tell me its possible to make juices from grapes, I'd rather you showed me using grapes than using potatoes and telling me the same principles apply. It may be true but that principle does not hold for all circumstances. Come to think of it, most of the accomplished motivational speakers in this country hardly cite any of our doctors and surgeons as a source of inspiration
Dr Agyapong says our doctors and surgeons across Africa are not only good for diagnosis and prescription but their lives are also symbols of giant perfection when it comes to personal and professional achievements. One such gigantic perfection of an example of African Achievers is Dr Boahene. There are a number of obstacles that stood in his way in his becoming a plastic surgeon of such magnitude as he is. To start with, he had a fear of blood and could not stand the sight of it, so how he is able to pick a scalpel to a patient's face to make corrections amidst bloody exposure to organs underneath the skin covering.
