The University of Ghana School of Pharmacy has once again been named winner of the Prof. N. A. Tackie Award for Excellence in Pharmacy Education at the 2026 PSGH Pharma Excellence Awards, making it two wins in two editions of the national awards scheme. The School first claimed the honour at the maiden  in 2025 and returned this year to retain the title, strengthening its reputation as one of Ghana’s foremost institutions for pharmacy education and research. The latest recognition comes at a symbolic moment, as the School prepares to mark 20 years since its establishment in 2007.

The School has already begun preparations for its 20th anniversary, with celebrations expected to climax in November 2027. Dean of the School, Professor Irene M. A. Kretchy, has indicated that the anniversary will provide an opportunity to reflect on the institution’s journey, celebrate its achievements and chart a stronger future for pharmaceutical education, research and public health.

From a young School to a national force

Established in 2007 as a constituent unit of the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences, the School was accredited to train pharmacists and built its academic structure around five departments: Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Pharmaceutics and Microbiology; Pharmacology and Toxicology; Pharmacognosy and Herbal Medicine; and Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Pharmacy. Its first cohort was admitted in 2008. Of the 34 students who initially enrolled, 31 graduated in 2012 and subsequently recorded a 100% pass rate in the 2013 Ghana Pharmacy Professional Qualifying Examinations. One of them, Josephine Ataa Hinneh, emerged overall best candidate nationwide and won the John Ocran Award as well as the Pharmacy Practice Award.

Built by generations of leadership

The School’s rise has also been shaped by the academics and administrators who built it from its formative years.

At the centre of that history is Professor Arthur Commey Sackeyfio, the School’s founding Dean, whose pioneering leadership helped establish the academic and institutional foundations on which the School has grown. The University continues to recognise his role in the School’s history, and a delegation led by the current Dean recently visited him as part of efforts to reconnect the institution with its founding generation ahead of the 20th anniversary.

More than a trophy

The back-to-back PSGH award is therefore more than another entry in the School’s honours list.

It represents recognition of nearly two decades of institution-building  from a young School with a single pioneer cohort to an institution producing pharmacists, researchers, academics and professional leaders for Ghana’s health system. It also places the 20th anniversary celebrations in a particularly strong context: a founding generation whose vision remains visible, successive leaders who expanded that foundation, alumni increasingly making their mark, and current students inheriting a School now recognised nationally for educational excellence.