Richard Amewu was studying for his master's degree at the University of Liverpool when a poster about a malaria drug discovery project caught his eye. As a young boy, Richard had lost a close childhood friend to malaria in his farming village in Ghana. The loss motivated Richard to one day find a treatment for malaria to save other children from the same fate as his friend. As a graduate student in medicinal and organic chemistry staring at that poster decades later, Richard thought to himself, "These guys don't have malaria. This research should be done where the disease is."

After finishing his master's degree, Richard joined the university's malaria drug discovery research group for his PhD in 2003, with a dream to one day return to Ghana and start the country's first drug discovery research group focused on organic synthesis, the process of creating lab-made molecules that can be turned into new drugs. At Liverpool, his research helped identify multiple molecules that could potentially combat tuberculosis and malaria, which have become increasingly resistant to current medications.

In 2013, he returned home to make his dream come true: to establish drug discovery capability in Ghana, only the second such facility in Africa. He was starting from scratch. The laboratory space at the University of Ghana was empty, and no one had any research experience in organic synthesis. Over time, he secured funding to turn the room into a fully equipped, state-of-the-art laboratory.

Convincing students to choose a career in organic or medicinal chemistry - synthesizing compounds and testing them for biological activity - proved more difficult. Many didn't believe this uncharted field in Ghana was real. Recruiting postdoctoral researchers from abroad was equally challenging. Richard advertised for them twice and no one applied.

"They thought that drug discovery through organic synthesis could not be done in Africa. More so in Ghana because there was no history of that being done here," said Richard, now an associate professor and head of the Drug Innovation Group at the University of Ghana. Still facing such skepticism today, Richard deliberately posts photos of the lab's sophisticated equipment on the group's website.

For a long time, Richard was a one-person team, running all the lab's projects and research. Eventually, by offering financial aid, he got a few university students to sign on. There are now 15 people on his team, including three postdocs, all of whom he has trained since they were undergraduates. Beyond malaria, his group is also searching for potential treatments for Visceral leishmaniasis, Buruli ulcer, tuberculosis, and cancer.

"What gives me joy now is looking around and knowing that nearly 100% of the team came through our capacity development efforts," said Richard.

He hopes to ultimately open an independent lab that can conduct research beyond the early stages of organic synthesis, where specialties such as chemistry, biology, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetics are housed in one building. 

But most importantly, he hopes that the drug discovery work survives long after he hangs up his lab coat.

"I don't want a situation where there's no one to continue the work. I'd like to see the young people rise to become leaders of our group, continue our efforts to build capacity, and contribute to finding global health solutions. That would be a good thing to celebrate on my retirement day," he said.