Prof. Christian Agyare takes over as KNUST’s 13th Vice-Chancellor

Professor Christian Agyare has officially assumed office as the 13th Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

He succeeds Professor Rita Akosua Dickson, who leaves office after serving as the first female Vice-Chancellor of the premier science and technology university in Ghana.

The investiture ceremony, held in Kumasi, brought together the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Dr Julius Debrah, members of academia, traditional leaders, religious figures and political actors.

Professor Agyare joins the leadership of KNUST with more than two decades of academic, research and administrative experience, having served the university in various capacities.

Before his appointment as Vice-Chancellor, he was the Provost of the College of Health Sciences, KNUST’s largest and most complex academic college.

A Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Professor Agyare is recognised internationally for his research contributions in areas including natural products pharmacology, antimicrobial resistance, wound healing, ethnopharmacology, parasitology and anticancer drug discovery.

He holds Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Pharmacy degrees from KNUST and obtained a Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) degree from the University of Münster, Germany.

He later undertook postdoctoral and research appointments at Novartis/Seeding Labs in Boston and the University of California, San Francisco, where he worked on pharmaceutical research and parasitic disease discovery.

Professor Agyare has published more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers and has earned over 5,000 citations, with an H-index of 36 and an i10-index of 84.

His research work has attracted more than US$11 million in competitive funding from international institutions, including the German Research Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Mastercard Foundation and the World Bank.

At KNUST, he has held several leadership positions, including serving on the University Executive Committee, Academic Board, Planning and Resources Committee, Budgetary Committee and the Appointments and Promotions Committee.

Between 2016 and 2020, he headed the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, where he led reforms aimed at improving institutional governance, accountability and efficiency.

As Provost of the College of Health Sciences from 2020, Professor Agyare supervised the introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, increased postgraduate enrolment and supported infrastructure development.

His appointment comes with expectations that he will advance KNUST’s position as a leading global institution in science, technology, research and innovation.

His vision for the university is focused on strengthening research, promoting entrepreneurship, embracing technology-driven transformation and improving student-centred learning.

Professor Agyare is also a Fellow of the Ghana College of Pharmacists and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana. He is a distinguished alumnus of Prempeh College, a practising pharmacist and a member of the Kwadaso Methodist Church.

He is married to Dr (Pharm.) Charlotte Sena Agyare, and they have three children.