Dr Mary Anti Chama, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, University of Ghana, has received the prestigious Suffrage Science Award in Engineering and Physical Sciences.

She was nominated by Professor Melinda Duer of the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Dr Chama received the award with other eleven awardees at an online celebration on Monday, March 8, 2021 during the 10th anniversary of the awards scheme.

This was in a statement from the University of Ghana, Legon copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

Professor Duer, remarked: "I have known Mary since she was a Cambridge-Africa Research Fellow in Cambridge.

She impressed me then with how she approached interdisciplinary science and brought in whatever techniques she needed in her quest to find new pharmaceutical compounds in plants.

She has continued to impress me as she has developed her science and brought in new collaborators.

She has been a champion for women in science throughout her career and supportive of students and younger colleagues alike."

The Suffrage Science Awards Scheme, founded by the MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, celebrates women in science for their outstanding scientific research, communication work, and support for women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.

The awards scheme is divided into three branches: life sciences, engineering and physical sciences and maths and computing.

Each branch has two associated pieces of jewellery, which are passed on from one awardee to the next. The current holder of the award chooses the recipient of the jewellery.

Dr Chama expressed satisfaction about the honour done her and urged women to venture into the sciences to contribute to national development.