Prof. Desmond Omane Acheampong is Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology and Immunology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast (UCC), Ghana. Desmond is a Fulbright Fellow, and had his Fulbright Scholars Fellowship at Center for Global Health/Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, Georgia. Prof. Acheampong is also an Adjunct Professor, School of Food Science and Engineering, Guangzhou Wushan Campus of SCUT, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China.

Desmond holds BSc (Biological Sciences) from University of Cape Coast, Ghana; MSc (Clinical Microbiology) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; and PhD (Microbiological and Biochemical Pharmacy) from China Pharmaceutical University, China.

Prof. Acheampong is currently the Dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences, College of Health and Allied Sciences, UCC. He had the opportunity to serve as acting Dean for three months (1st August-31st October, 2020), and Vice-Dean from August, 2019 to July, 2021 prior to becoming the Dean in August, 2021. Also, Desmond has previously served as Head of Department, Department of Biomedical Sciences, School of Allied Health Sciences, UCC, from August, 2017 to July, 2019. As Head of Department, Desmond led the Department to develop two new post-graduate programmes; PhD/MPhil (Immunology and Immunotherapy) and PhD/MPhil (Epidemiology), and completed the accreditation process for the programme PhD/MPhil (Drug Discovery and Development). Again, Desmond initiated the review of the 'old' MPhil/PhD Parasitology to the 'new' MPhil/PhD to Pathogen and Vector Biology. Prof. Acheampong played a key role as consultant in the development of the programmes: MPhil/PhD (Gene Therapy) and MPhil PhD (Human Embryology) run by Thrivus Institute for Biomedical Science and Technology, Lashibi, Accra, Ghana.

Prof. Acheampong has successfully mentored/supervised a number of PhD and MPhil candidates in the areas of clinical microbiology, immunology and drug discovery. Most of these Mentees are now working as Lecturers and Research Fellows at reputable Universities and Medical Research Centres. Desmond has to his credit a patent for an immunotherapeutic agent he developed for cancer therapy. He has authored two books in microbiology and immunology, one policy brief on innovation and entrepreneurship, and published over 70 scientific articles in the area of microbiology, immunology and drug discovery in reputable journals. His research interest has mainly been on Clinical Microbiology, Clinical Immunology (Immunotherapy/Immunohaematology), Drug discovery studies (Natural Products) targeted at Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases and, Biomedical Entrepreneurship and Youth Enterprise development.

Prof. Acheampong has research collaboration with reputable international institutions such as Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK; National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, National Mie University, Japan; MS Intercollegiate Faculty of Toxicology Texas A&M University, College Station Texas, USA; BASF SE, Germany; School of Food Science and Engineering, Guangzhou Wushan Campus of SCUT, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, China; and Nkaarco Diagnostics Limited, Norwich, United Kingdom. Desmond has secured a number of research grants/supports to support his research activities and graduate students training. He is the Lead-Partner for three projects under British Council sponsored Innovation for African University programme. Partners of the programme are St. Andrews University, UK and University of Health and Allied Health Sciences (UHAS), Ghana. As an academic, Prof. Acheampong has served and continue to serve as External Examiner for PhD and MPhil theses from sister universities, and Assessor for promotion of academic senior members home and abroad. Additionally, he reviews grant proposals submitted to reputable institutions such as Medical Research Council (MRC), UK. Also, he serves as an Editorial Board Member/Associate Editor for a number of reputable journals. Prof Acheampong has accumulated over $ 2 M as Awards/Grants/Research Supports for his research activities.

Prof. Acheampong has served or continues to serve as chairman or member on a number of boards and committees at local (UCC), national and international levels. Notable among these committees/Boards are member, Governing Council, Thrivus Institute for Biomedical Science and Technology, Lashibi, Accra, Ghana; member, Official Blog of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) ‘‘The Sentinel”; member, Academic Board, UCC; member, Graduate Studies Board, UCC; member, Academic Planning and Management Committee, UCC; member, College of Health and Allied Sciences Board; UCC; member, Appointment and Promotion Committee, College of Health and Allied Sciences, UCC; Chairman, School of Allied Health Sciences Board, UCC; Chairman, Appointments and Promotions Committee, School of Allied Health Sciences, UCC; Chairman, Graduate Studies Committee, School of Allied Health Sciences, UCC; member, the ad-hoc committee that developed the university’s research agenda for 2023-2027, UCC; member, Academic Board's committee for review of new programmes among others.

He is a member of the following Professional institutions/bodies/scientific groups; Fulbright Fellows Alumni Association, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), The Antibody Society (AS), International Society for Infectious Diseases (ISID), Immunological Society of Ghana, WAHO-Infectious Research Group, Malaria GEN-Genomic Epidemiology Network and University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).