Dr Docia Angelina Naki Kisseih (1919-2008)

The first Ghanian chief nursing officer, Dr Kisseih did her nursing training at the Nightingale School in London, followed by further training in midwifery, nursing administration and public health, all at the Royal College of Nursing. She did both an MSc in nursing administration and a doctorate in education at Boston University. She was the first Ghanaian nurse to obtain a doctorate.

Kisseih started her career as a midwife in 1943. She worked at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital until 1974. She was president of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association for the years 1960-70.

On retirement from the civil service, she joined the Department of Nursing at the University of Ghana as a lecturer, to retire from teaching in 1981. While at the university she instituted a scholarship program. Kisseih also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Council of Nurses and the World Health Organizations Expert Advisory Panel. She notably led in the Ghanaization of the nursing profession in her country, as Pratt had in the Nigerianization of nursing in her country, ensuring no loss of standards as expatriates left. In 2008 the University of Ghana gave her an honorary doctorate for her  contribution to nursing in Ghana and internationally.

The citation of Dr Kisseih on the Ghana Nursing Portal says that she was “a true nurse in the spirit of Florence Nightingale.”