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Class 20 (2021-2023)

Simon Aseno, Ghana

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – School of Global Public Health

Global Health | Refugee, Migrant & Humanitarian Affairs | International Development | Education

Simon Batamya Aseno hails from Zebilla in the Upper East region of Ghana. He received his education in Ghana, South Africa and Australia having been the first Ghanaian recipient of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship since its inception in 2005. Mr. Aseno majored in Biomedical Technology at the University of Johannesburg and Humanitarian Health at Deakin University.

Simon is a one-time recipient of the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award and a two-time participant of the annual St. Gallen Symposium hosted by the International Students Committee of the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. His essay dubbed “Disrupting International Politics: Towards a Fairer, more Relevant and Inclusive United Nations” was ranked among the top 100 by the ISC judging panel. In 2016, he was recognized as one of Africa’s Brightest Young Minds by a Barclays Africa funded Brightest Young Minds organization. He’s been featured in both local and international channels speaking to issues of health disparities and inequalities, community health as well as on international politics.

Simon applied a portion of his scholarship stipend to set up a Peoples Foundation for Health and Education Development (PeFHED) in 2016 as his meagre contribution towards the health and education development needs of the underprivileged communities where he grew up. He has since founded Afro Technologies – a social enterprise assisting particularly health educational institutions adopt web-based and online technologies to aid in the training of community healthcare professionals in Ghana.

He's worked extensively in the health sector of Ghana with a cumulative work experience well over a decade right from the clinical laboratory bench to teaching and community health programming as well as for the country WHO EPI Programme.

Mr. Aseno aspires to become an international public servant serving in the area of Public Health or International Development. He also has ambitions to get into politics in future.

Applied Field Experience

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health Zambia Hub