The Global Citizen: Edward

This week Dr. Edward Ofori tells us his origin story, how he went from a young boy in Ghana to an Assistant Professor and scientist in America. Along the way he encountered teachers, mentors, and friends who would ultimately shape his current life in unexpected ways. We talk about mental health, vaccinations, and so much more in the latest episode of Delirium.

Follow Edward at: @MrBossGh @HealthinfoAfrica #AkoRadio and on Facebook @EdwardOfori
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Transcript

Victoria (00:06):

Hey yall! Welcome to night shift delirium, a podcast about junior doctors and the world that surrounds them. I'm your host Victoria, a junior doctor based in England. And on today's episode, we're going to be talking with a global citizen, Dr. Edward Ofori. He is an assistant professor in Chicago and a pharmacist as well. He's going to tell us about his story and his experiences abroad locally and.

Victoria (00:34):

In between. You're definitely going to enjoy this week's episode. Welcome to our shift. Y'all

Victoria (00:43):

Welcome to the podcast. On today's episode, we're chatting with ed who is a pharmacist based in Chicago. So can you give us a brief introduction of yourself?

Dr. Edward Ofori (00:56):

Oh, thank you very much. I would say Edward of furry is a Kenyan born and bred, you know I will say that I was born in Berekum, which is a little bit central of Ghana. I would say a little bit to the south of Ghana in west Africa. I have six siblings think I'm the fourth of those. And I mean, growing up in that area in Ghana has so many things that came with it, which I'm going to talk about today. But then I've also moved on in my educational ladder. I've been one of the very few that were lucky to make it as far in, in my group. I would say that basically married don't have no kids yet. I'm assistant professor of pharmacy in Chicago state university before joining Chicago State. I was a post-doctoral fellow at Southern Institute of research in Alabama, but basically that's a little bit just about me. Cool.

Victoria (02:06):

So, so you work primarily as a professor, is that correct?

Dr. Edward Ofori (02:11):

Correct. Correct. So I do teach in the college of pharmacy and I do research as well, and I do a lot of community outreach and service, and I think a lot of people know me for my community outreach academia, yeah, easily. It's just a very few people who follow your research that know you. So I, I tend to do more for the community in terms of education. And that is what a lot of people know Dr.Ofori, for, mostly by my services.

Victoria (02:45):

Okay. So let's start from the beginning. What led you to pharmacy to begin with? Were there people that you were looking up to growing up that sort of laid a blueprint for you? Or did you just find it on your own

Dr. Edward Ofori (03:00):

Great question? So I was born to, I would say what we describe in ghana as peasant farmers. My dad was a farmer and my mom was a, what it means it meant was that they didn't have much education, but I think my dad believed in education a lot. My mom was a little bit nonchalant about it. She didn't really care. But my dad knew what education meant because he didn't really go to school. A lot of the time whenever he received like it, you know, a male it was kind of hard to find someone to read it for him. So growing up, I realized, you know, I need to help my parents because I got to stay in school and to be able to help them read their letter. Right. That's where it started from. And that motivation kind of carried me when I was in school to pay attention.

Dr. Edward Ofori (03:52):

My mom and my dad always said, you gotta pay attention when you're in school. So I think when I was like in fourth grade, that's when I realized that I had a potential to remember a lot of things that is taught in class. And in addition, I could potentially like listen to other people and, and I could remember the stuff. The funny part about it is that my little brother who's my, you know, the next in line he was in great at that, you know? So it always amazed me, like, why is it that I moved to remember a lot of things that are age and he couldn't. So that was one thing that I decided to think, you know, there's something that has to do with a different brains. We were in the same house eating the same food. Right. And I'm in top of my class and he's not.

Dr. Edward Ofori (04:41):

And then, so going forward, I met a teacher in fifth grade who believed in me what he told me was that if I believe in something, I can do it and I shouldn't any, I shouldn't let anything stop me. So those words resonated with me for the rest of my life. And I remember the guy's name, his name was atta. He really motivated me in fifth grade. I got to sixth grade and the rest was history. But then when I got to middle school, I had a guy who used to come to visit my other brother and he was a science student. And then he would tell us about a science experiment and how you were able to generate electrostatics and all this kind of stuff. They were cool stuff. And being a little boy when I saw those things, I was like, oh my God, that is so cool.

Dr. Edward Ofori (05:30):

How did he do that magic? And then he told me it was science. So right there I started developing affection for science. So what I did was, and I noticed is crazy. It was sound crazy to do as well. Listening is that I picked, I went to the, the library and I stole a book and it was a science book. I wasn't supposed to sneak out with a book, but I wanted to know how to generate a battery, like a lights using batteries. Right. And I knew that I could find it in a science book, man. This was me in seventh grade, I think. So I went to the office and I, I flipped through the pages and I saw the experiment. So I wanted to repeat the same experiment. So I stole the book and took it with me home. And I read the book.

Dr. Edward Ofori (06:19):

And when and picked the batteries from like people who have thrown them away got me some little conductors here and there. And I was able to connect them in a right way and actually get a light, you know, and mind you, this was in the 1990s to some of you who are in other Western worlds. You'd think it was light everywhere. Right. But in Ghana, we still was experiencing a lot of darkness right. In terms of electricity energy. So when I did that, that was actually what I used when whenever there was no lights to steady, you know, so I designed my own kind of like a lamp steady lamp using the book that I got from the library. And then I realized, you know, what if I can read, you know, actually my dad had me, somebody that could teach me how to read.

Dr. Edward Ofori (07:07):

That was number one, that was very key in my life. So, you know, fast forward I gravitated towards science, went to high school. Specialized in science was a science major. All I knew was just focused on my books. And then when I graduated from high school, it was between med school and pharmacy. But what I realized was that I was very good in chemistry, you know, so I felt, you know, chemists, pharmacists, you know, I'll do better in that area. So I applied to pharmacy school in common chromium, master of science and technology in Kumasi. And I was fortunate to be selected or I got admission for entry in 2003. Graduated from pharmacy. You know, I would say one of the top students in the class, but I mean, if you ask me what really motivated me to do pharmacy, it was, first of all, it was experienced going to science.

Dr. Edward Ofori (08:07):

And the reason why I really wanted to be in health food was influenced by a friend who had schizophrenia. Part of the reason why when I went to do my PhD, I specialized in schizophrenia or mental illness for that matter. I do my research in psych neuro psychiatry because of that. This was a young guy who was nice. We all played when we were little. He was funny. We loved him to death, but when he hit his teenage age we S we realized that he wasn't a for himself. He started talking to himself. And a lot of the time, you know, when they took him to the psychiatric hospital when they brought him back, he was not the same person again. When they give him the medicine, it made him very how do I say, like, quiet, extremely quiet.

Dr. Edward Ofori (08:59):

So at that time, I said to myself, maybe if they could get him a better drug, it would have to make this. I can have my friend back, but basically that's what it was. So when I had a privilege to go to school, I realized maybe I can find a way to actually know what drugs are because yeah, we all know what is wrong with people, but the question is the solution. So that actually motivated me to go into pharmacy and then eventually focus in drug discovery, which is how to make medicine, to solve diseases that nobody really care about, like mental illnesses you know, a lot of pharmaceutical companies until recently didn't really care about these, these kind of illnesses. So that is in brief what motivated me to go into science and then also what led me into pharmacy and a drive to come this far, even after pharmacy school.

Victoria (09:54):

So there's a lot there. That was really interesting. So this friend of yours, you grew up with him in your hometown, or you came across him later on.

Dr. Edward Ofori (10:04):

So he was a dude that we grew up with in the same neighborhood. I still remember his name, his name was Clement. So he was very funny guy, right. And we all love to be around somebody who cracks jokes and makes a lot of fun. He could do a lot of things, dance, like this is a normal kid, right. They will play with but unfortunately, and it's so sad. He's made his soul rest in peace. He, he didn't live long because I think part of the reason was the medication. A lot of things that, you know, went on his health has deteriorated. And he was, it was a little, I think, two years older than me, he was in the same neighborhood. So I saw him go through that. Right. he couldn't function anymore. Everything was fine because every, all the body is fine, except that now that I understand what is really going on, because I know what his, his his neurons were not firing. Right. You know, and dad just basically ended his life. So I realized that it wasn't just, the body is actually the mind like that was the first lesson in life that you gotta take care of your mind. One of the reasons why I'm a strong advocate of, you know, mental health and also like neuropsychiatric research in terms of finding medicines that can potentially help people like my friend. So yes, we grew up with him. Yes.

Victoria (11:39):

It's interesting. Because, so I don't know if everyone who listens to the podcast knows, but I'm an American. So obviously I was born and raised in America, but I'm quite connected to Ghana. And when it comes to mental health in Ghana, well, worldwide, but especially in Ghana, it is such a taboo thing. You know, you see what people call mad men walking on the street. That actually for me was one of my, like, I think first time I went to Ghana, I was maybe eight. And I saw now, what I know is someone who has schizophrenia and I just didn't understand why they were like roaming the streets naked talking to themselves. And that was my first experience of health disparity and also like mental illness. And that has really sort of motivated my own career as well. So it's interesting. So your friend, he, he went through what he was going through. He was taken to the hospital given care. And, you know, do you think there was community support as well, or not really that much community support and in general, what'd you think about the community support for mental health?

Dr. Edward Ofori (12:52):

I think that that is a very good question that it always puzzles me how we handle mental illness in Ghana and in Africa as a whole, and especially among the minority community, even in the United States. We perceive people as not being strong and the fact that is their fault. So my friend people started talking about, he smoked cannabis. That's why he got schizophrenia. And then I came to learn that there's no link between the two, you know, but that was the major driving, you know, rumor about how he got sick because he did drugs and did this and that, and that I think community education is very important in Ghana that a lot of people commit suicide in Ghana because they have no support in Africa. A lot of people struggle with mental illness and people just think they're just weak. So when my friend there was, there was there wasn't that much societal support.

Dr. Edward Ofori (14:02):

He was shielded, he was never reintegrated into society. They were shy, so they never let him out. He was in chains. When I graduated from pharmacy school, he was still alive. I went and saw him. He was put, I believe on chlorpromazine I think, or I think Stella's in one of those drugs. And those of you who are listening, who are neuro psychiatry, he was experiencing some EPS, you know, which is instructing me the side effects and, you know, his medication didn't really, he wasn't managed well. So I had to talk to a psychiatrist and new at a hospital at a time that I have a friend who has this and that and that. So he prescribed some kind of anti chronic for him that kind of reduced all the streamers and stuff that he was experiencing. That to me, I'm wondering how many people will stress software, like the whole world 1% or the population struggle with these things.

Dr. Edward Ofori (15:07):

And I'm wondering how many of them in Ghana even get any kind of support at all, because he was basically showed it from the rest of the community because the parents were shamed to say that your child is mad. You know, so mental illness, I think in Ghana, we have an F if you were to be graded on a scale of, you know, we, we, we, we don't, we don't have that awareness. And what makes it even worse that it is social support system for these people who are sort of, you know, don't have mental incapacitated is non-existent. 

Victoria (15:48):

Yeah. I remember when I was doing my own thesis research on like mood disorders I think it was that year, the Lancet had published this photo for world mental health day, and it was somebody in chains under a tree, and they were like meant to sweat out there mental illness or demons or whatever it was called. And I was so disappointed to learn that that photo was taken in Ghana, you know, and this was the photo for world mental health day. But at the same time, I remember this was probably 20 11, 20 12. And at the time there were only maybe 13 registered psychiatrists in all of Ghana. And at the time the population was about 23 million or something like that. So you can see that the resources are extremely stretched because what are 13 psychiatry is going to do for so many people when one in three people have mood disorders alone, you know? So yeah, I think it's, it's definitely, it's good to sort of continue to pursue these things, especially in communities that you find throughout Ghana and throughout the world. Really. So you mentioned that and we'll get back to some other things, but you did mention that you do a lot of community outreach and things. Do you do anything specifically pertaining to mental health or what's your focus of interest? Like what's your interest in your outreach efforts?

Dr. Edward Ofori (17:26):

Yes, I, I do a lot when it comes to mental health, I have like, that's my interest, right? To be able to let people be aware of it any way necessary that it is actually real, you know, it's not demonic that a lot of Africans and people in Ghana think if someone has a mental illness is because it's demonic. I used to give a talk that the mind can also get sick or the brain can get sick too. Uhhich means the same way that you can have a stomach ache. You can also have some kind of mental illness, so people should start thinking in that way. Um do go to a lot of, mrograms to speak about mental illness. Last year, I did that, mlso in a community like it's not only in mental illnesses, I do work with a lot of online radio stations to kind of put some health, mou know, information out there, especially when it came to COVID. I spearheaded a lot of education in terms of COVID just because I realized there was a lot of misinformation and not too many people were speaking out, you know, hut then me and a few people took it upon ourselves to, mou know, put information out there, open a discussion. Uhet's talk it out and make sure that we don't only settle for a misinformation. So yes, I do do a lot of community outreach in terms of educational, hutreach and health information for that matter. Umes.

Victoria (19:08):

Okay. I do want to get into that into your community and things like that, but before getting there...

Victoria (19:20):

January 2, 2021. Instagram @VKyerematen my patient zero was a lovely man who was in hospital March of 2020 for a chest infection and poorly controlled diabetes. We'd heard about this strain of Coronavirus, but new, little more than its presenting symptom with a cough and fever. It wasn't long before we closed the hospital to visitors and his loving daughters called to wish their dad a happy birthday. I stood at the end of his bed, two meters away and passed on their message. Two days later, the entire ward was full of COVID-19 patients and patient zero passed away, alone, calling his family and breaking the news was an experience I will never forget today. I had my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I got the vaccine for all of my patients who have died alone from COVID-19 and for their families who couldn't say goodbye and the collective grief, we will all feel for years to come.

Victoria (20:24):

I got the vaccine for my colleagues who are working tirelessly, sacrificing time with their families and friends to fight this terrible, terrible virus. And for all essential workers who haven't had a break in almost one year. And yes, I even got the vaccine for people with COVID fatigue who thinks seeing one or two friends won't do harm because they're tired of being alone. Despite exponential rises in cases, I got the vaccine because I miss my family whom I've seen a total of 10 days in the past year. I got the vaccine because I believe in herd immunity. And I know that herd immunity is a public health term, which can only be achieved through vaccination. I trust the experts and scientists who built on years worth of research and developed this vaccine. Science works. Let's do it. Y'all vaccinate our isolate.

Victoria (21:24):

So you took us to you're developing your interest in science, working, you know, working with batteries, reading books, getting to pharmacy at tech, what then led you to it? I, I, it was wasn't pharm D or like what then led you to do a PhD and what brought you from Ghana to America?

Dr. Edward Ofori (21:45):

Great. so that's a long story, but I'm going to make it short. So after high school, you know, I gravitated towards pharmacy. Pharmacy is a bachelor's degree in Ghana. That's all you need to practice now is a doctorate degree. And then after that, you know, I became like a research assistant, or I should say what we call TAs. I did that it with the department of Pharmaceutical chemistry, and I continued to do my masters in pharmaceutical analysis for, I think, two years after that I realized that because I was doing my masters, I was working at Komfo Anokye teaching hospital. So I was an in internal medicine pharmacist at a, at a department of medicine at the Komfo Anokye teaching hospital in Kumasi. I served there for, I think I worked for them for almost two years whilst I was doing my masters at the same time.

Dr. Edward Ofori (22:53):

So I practiced clinically and also did research at the same time. But then when I graduated from my masters, I still felt not there yet. I didn't have the skill that it takes to be able to help people you know, be able to develop things that I thought I wanted to drive in a passion kept pushing me that I need to get my doctorate. It's just so happens that I met my advisor, who is the one that brought me to his lab. His name is Dr. [inaudible]. And I really I, I like to say that he's one of the best things that ever happened to me in my life. He brought me to his lab and I never let him down.  we did a lot of his area of research for schizophrenia, too.  I met him was I was doing my masters.

Dr. Edward Ofori (23:42):

I worked with him in Ghana trying to find plants that had some sort of effect on maybe schizophrenia or mental illness, all true that collaboration because my masters was focused on natural products too, so true that we get a connection and I came to his lab and we started working from then the rest is history. We've done so many projects, we've done so many publications. And so basically I would say, you know, from pharmacists who it didn't stop, it just had as many desire to be able to get a doctorate, which would allow me with, or give me the skill that I can use to help people one way or the other, you know you know, to drug discovery or which is by education.

Victoria (24:31):

Interesting. So you've come to America now, you're working, you're living. Do you think that you will ever go back to Ghana or do you think you'll go to other countries? What is your sort of geographical aspiration? Great.

Dr. Edward Ofori (24:52):

So I think that question is a very interesting one. I always will love to go back home to help out, right. A lot of the skills and a lot of us who end up here, very smart people from Ghana tend to stay longer than usual because of the opportunities, right. And also like research. You know, we, we, our research capacity in Ghana is very in the infantry stage, you know, is, is not at a level that we are now, right. So what I'm doing currently is I'm collaborating with colleagues back home, right? So that I can serve as a way to give them some resources. We can write grants together and, and build things back there. Cause I know how I felt when I was doing my masters to look for, you know, materials and it takes longer period of time to get them.

Dr. Edward Ofori (25:48):

So what I'm doing right now is collaborating with my colleagues who are in university of Ghana coming, coming in with the science technology, like, whereas I know my colleagues are we collaborate. So to answer the question I would love to, but I don't think is the time, the time is not now, maybe as time goes on and we want to build a very good rapport. I would like to go and establish a very good industry, a good research you know, lab or something that will go a long way to solve problems like malaria, tuberculosis, you know, all these diseases that are basically neglected by a farmer to be able to help out with my people back home.

Victoria (26:33):

Good. Good, good. So you mentioned sort of your colleagues and things, and I've seen things online, you know, have this cohort of people that seemingly are everywhere. So how is it, are they your mates from school that you now have this like community with? Or are they people that you sort of have met along the way in your journey here that you do sort of outreach and things with?

Dr. Edward Ofori (27:02):

Yeah, so it's both right. I have people that I've known since college and we still keep in touch and uhh great people that I met along the line who share the same passion. So I mean, whoever aligns with my vision and passion to help people and do research, I embrace whoever that person is. And, and we, we talk and we do things I believe in action, I believe in, in doing things, not just talking about them. So that is basically how I formed that team. So I have a team that we currently work on helping for Africa, which is an organization, a little organization that science, I mean, pharmacists, scientists, doctors, nurses, everybody included to just create a platform to educate people about their health. So our team was that the reason why we formed that is because a lot of the times scientists tend to be in their labs, make all these great discoveries, right?

Dr. Edward Ofori (28:06):

And then the end consumer has no clue what you're doing. And especially because science has such an interesting reputation, we wanted to bridge that gap, right? So we want it to open the conversation to involve the ordinary person on the street. For instance, the COVID vaccine came out, nobody knows about DNA RNA, right? You tell somebody on the street, you have a DNA vaccine. Oh my God, that is going to change us into an animal. You know? So these are all conversations that never happened. It was only behind like a fume hood in the lab with rats and stuff. We just know the scientists, just making something, nobody brought those things into layman's terms so they will understand. So that's the reason why we tend to, you know, form that organization to be able to bring this information to people. So basically that's one thing that I, we, we, we kind of hold together, anybody who shares the same vision, we tend to bring them on board.

Victoria (29:04):

I see. I see. What advice would you give to someone who maybe they're in, I don't know, Kumasi somewhere, or maybe they're in south side of Chicago or something and they're listening and they maybe feel that everything is not meant for them, you know, like schooling or whatever, even if they have that ability, what advice would you give to someone?

Dr. Edward Ofori (29:31):

I mean, our biggest fears is not that we are inadequate, right? It's just, we are powerful beyond all measures. So you can do as much as you push yourself. Right. And one thing that I learned from one of my friends is that you are strong as a weakness link which means that you have to build the right network, right. You have to surround yourself with the right people, even if you are like teenager, you've got to surround yourself with people that will help you achieve what you want to do. It is not impossible if I showed you the classroom that I sat. Right. And I know by not it's probably remodeled, you know, I just sat in the mud like pure, you know, you know what Ghanian schools, right? There was no, no tarred floor, none of that. Whenever it rained, the rain would just go through the roof.

Dr. Edward Ofori (30:31):

You know, whenever there was a wind school closest, that kind of environment, but that never stopped me from going to school even a single day unless I was sick. I, I persevered and I knew the only way out is to be able to get education, to be able to read to be able to understand what the nature is and all of that. And let me tell you one interesting story. So not only did I go to the library to, you know, get a book, this is what I used to do. I, I was, I attended a very poor elementary school. Right. And it was a district run school. And of course, you know, when the district runs something, not always Zoe something we had a lot of issues, including even getting teachers. At one time I didn't have a teacher for almost half of the year.

Dr. Edward Ofori (31:20):

Right. So what I used to do was that I had, I was very good at soccer. I still play it. I, at the point I was even torn between either doing professional plea or just going to school because I made it all the way to the national kind of team, like on a 12 team. And my dad always pushed me that, Hey, that's not going to take you anywhere. Good in school. But, but let's backtrack. So what I used to do, because I was good in sports, I had a lot of friends who were like rich kids, right. And they'd go to the better school. My dad, even though he had money, you know, he was a little stingy. He didn't want to take me to the risk school. Right. He said, you'll be fine here. So what I used to do is that I would go to these rich kids, you know, I would say, now teach you how to play soccer, but guess what?

Dr. Edward Ofori (32:11):

You got to bring me your book and I will pick the book. And I said, I'll keep it for a night. So I come home if there's no lights, of course I'll switch on my electric powered lamp. Right. And I will stay up in the night and pretty much copied the notes. I did this for, I think almost, I would say maybe four years, you know whenever at the end of the week, I'll go grab your book. And I tell them, what did they teach you in an hour? Write down the notes. And also our oxygen. What books did they use? I had a, I had a cousin at home who teach me how to read. So that is how I was able to get the knowledge. So I basically fought for it. So nothing comes easy, right? If you're listening to me, you think is not for you.

Dr. Edward Ofori (32:58):

I think it is for you. The only thing is you have to apply yourself. Right. And if it was easy, everybody would be in a class. Right. I always tell the students that it was easy. This pharmacy class would be food. There'll be people sitting outside because guess what? Everybody wants to earn six figures. Right? So if you made it here, it means you actually have the perseverance to do it. And it starts when you're little stars, when you're young if you have to beat laziness out of yourself and keep pushing. And what I realized is that you always find a results. If you need help, seek for it, don't be shy. I was never shy to ask people, to show me stuff. Guess what? Sometimes they show me that I know how to do better than them, right? So everybody has a potential for so long as you have a brain and you have, you know, the whoever Supreme person you pray to, you always will have a way out of everything that you put yourself to.

Dr. Edward Ofori (33:54):

So if you're listening to me or you feel like giving up, don't do it. There were times I felt like it. But guess what? I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel that, you know what I've seen people go through the system and they did not die. And that gives me hope. Right? So that is my only advice that I give to people. When they tell me, man, I can't do this pharmacist who I can do this too. In med school, I can't do this. And then I say, you can, it's just, your mind is deceiving. You, you know, if you put your mind to it and you practice practice, practice, right. And you put yourself to what you can, you can do anything because the brain is such a powerful tool that we have that we end the estimate.

Victoria (34:35):

Yes, absolutely. I definitely agree with all of that. Two last questions. So I consider myself a global health practitioner. I think you are definitely also a global health practitioner. Where do you see global health going in the future?

Dr. Edward Ofori (34:53):

Yes. So the world is getting smaller and smaller, right? I remember like when COVID-19 started, you know, some people were like, oh, that's just in China. Until it started killing people in New York and it started killing people all the way in, you know, in the countryside or at a city or the country in the nation. And I think that should tell us that global health, public health, all of these things involve everyone. We, there was shutdowns around the world and everything because of public health, not just with infectious disease, with all kinds of illnesses, hypertension, diabetes diseases that we can prevent smoking. You know, all these things are things that we need to pay attention to the same way we pay attention to fashion, sports entertainment. You know, I, whenever I go on radio and I'm given, you know, talk about health, I get very few views.

Dr. Edward Ofori (35:59):

But then when I see people giving commentary on something, there's a lot of people that tune in to listen, right. Is because nobody wants to think about their health until it's kind of a little too late. Right? Yeah. So I see that global health is the way to go because the food we eat, all right, the water we drink all affects our system, right? So for instance, maybe in the past diabetes used to be a problem in the west. Now, maybe it's a problem in, in Africa. Why? Because of the way we look at the world, the west and we copied socially the lifestyle, sedentary lifestyle, a lot of cars. Now, people don't walk anymore. We eat a lot of junk, we think is cool. You know, so you can see how small the world has become internet is there. You can reach people, you can transport stuff.

Dr. Edward Ofori (36:53):

So materials move around. Information moves around and we are equally affected at this point. So to me, my opinion, you know, global health is something that is key infectious disease wise, noncommunicable diseases spreading by, by means of just us associating and trying different food, different cultures and things like that. These are all things that we can potentially utilize in a good way, but at the same time, you can also harm a lot of people that unfortunately will have some kind of diseases from it. So I think with COVID and with all these examples of given global health is key, and we just have to educate people to be aware of it because the more you keep saying it, the more the chances that you're going to gain people that will start, you know, trying to listen to you. Yeah.

Victoria (37:42):

I definitely agree. We have to be aware and be making conscious decisions. Okay. So my last question is a question that I've asked a lot in season one. I won't be asking that may in season two, but I think it's appropriate cause you're a pharmacist. So the question is if you were to choose a drug that embodies you, which drug would it be and why? Now my example, I always say that I'm Diazepam, because I'm very calm. I'm chill. However, there are serious side effects if used incorrectly, what drug would you say you are? That's a good one.

Dr. Edward Ofori (38:27):

So, so I'm I'm a dopamine fanatic, right? I just love the drug. Dopamine is not a job. It's a bit of neurotransmitter transmitter. Right. anything that it blocks it, I mean stimulated, which in some cases it's not the best. Right. I'm really interested about it. I, I will say I'll go with HowDo. So how though is, it's a very interesting molecule or drug that helps people with schizophrenia? Very potent drug use it in a lot in emergency room without even thinking about it twice, but it's a very interesting molecule that has helped a lot of people with their positive symptoms, you know, and I think is, I mean, it was discovered in the 1950s and is still being used in the practice, even though it has a lot of side effects and things of that nature.

Dr. Edward Ofori (39:33):

I think dopamine is a good thing when you need it, you get it like your nose, your nucleus accumbens love it. Right. But too much activity instead of positive brain was what took my friend away from me. I, I watched and I follow Dr. [inaudible] Who is, I think he's in Duke university right now. He researches on trying to get a pacemaker for the brain. Our hope is research successful. Basically trying to put out too much electrical activity in certain positive brain. And when there's deficiency be able to augment electrical activity in that part of the brain brilliant idea, I hope one day the same way we have pacemakers for their hearts, we can have peacemakers for the brain. So if you have you have any depression and certain areas of the brain don't have electrical activity, we can give you electrical probe.

Dr. Edward Ofori (40:31):

Now we'll give it a signal and we will be happy and not commit suicides and how all these people, these issues. So I love how though even though, you know, chronic use of Harlow is not advisable. It has a lot of side effects, but it will help you it'll help this cause of phrenic patient. And it's still being used at the same time, not to say that somebody want to block your dopamine. I don't do that. I want to be as blissful as anything you want to stimulate your nucleus accumbens as soon as much as you want. But I love that drug because I felt after an, you know, doing a lot of research in anti-psychotics, it was one molecule that I realized everything embodies it, all the drugs that we discovered most of them were based on the structure of Haldol. So I see myself as Mr. Hart

Victoria (41:31):

Love it. Okay. Well, thank so much for joining me on the podcast today. Is there anywhere that people can follow you or any of the organizations that you are a part of?

Dr. Edward Ofori (41:43):

Sure. I do have a lot of handles. So on, on Instagram, my name is @mrbossgh I don't know why I picked that, but I thought it was cool. You can follow me on Twitter is @EdwardOfori19. I believe I'll check that. But then you can also follow me on Facebook name is Edward Ofori and there's only one account that you see under my name. I do have a lot of other handles, which is @HealthInfoAfrica. That is the main platform that do give a lot of health information. I also work with apple radio, which is an online radio station in Chicago, Illinois. And the hashtag for that is AKO radio. I do give a lot of health talks on there as well. And you, you can follow me on all the other platforms as well. I don't have that many. I'm not too active, but I'm active on Facebook a lot. So you put my name in there or you go to Ako radio. You'll see a lot of my works as well.

Victoria (42:55):

Excellent. Excellent. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much.

Victoria (43:01):

I hope you all enjoy this week's episode with Ed. I certainly learned a lot about dedication and working hard to achieve your goals. We will include all those places to find him in our show notes and also tag him on our Instagram. And you can certainly follow him on Facebook as well. If you liked this week's episode, make sure that you share the episode with your friends and family and subscribe to our podcast on all podcast platforms. We are new to YouTube. So we also have a channel there. I'm excited to announce that merchandise is coming soon. So make sure you're following us on Instagram at night shift delirium and on Twitter at delirium shift for updates. Also during our break in this week's episode, I shared a post from my Instagram from the start of this year. I'm happy to say that I'm fully vaccinated and I know many of you all are as well. However, we still know that there's a lot of vaccine hesitancy for those of us who are privileged enough to have access to the vaccines. I want to encourage everyone to encourage others, to continue to get vaccinated. Remember vaccines, save vacations, and more importantly, they save lives. Vaccinateorisolae

Speaker 1 (44:27):

Host: Dr. Victoria Kyerematen
Guest: Dr. Edward Ofori