Papa Asamoah wants to give back to Ghana

Papa Asamoah has two first names. His American name is Fred, but his Ghanian name is Papa. Asamoah’s parents are from Ghana, and his extended family lives there, while Asamoah’s immediate family lives in Charlotte.

“Papa is part of my identity. That’s my name, and I’m going to say it proudly,” said Asamoah. “It opens more conversations because, if you hear my name, someone might ask, ‘Where is it from?’”

Asamoah plans to major in computer science at Carolina and hopes to combine his passion for medicine with technology to assist patients.

“I want to learn about other people by being in medicine. I want to have the widest view about different cultures, people and disciplines. I’m hoping to learn how computer science can intersect with medicine by doing research at Carolina,” said Asamoah.

Asamoah begun this work in the summer as one of 16 fellows in Carolina’s 1955 Fellowship Program. The program supports incoming first-year undergraduates as they transition into academic and social life at the University.

The program emphasizes civic engagement, leadership development and a strong sense of belonging within the campus community. Students stay on campus for part of the summer, and participate in service opportunities, mentoring and programming to find their voice, connect with others and contribute meaningfully to the University environment.

Each student completed a capstone project at the end of the program, and Asamoah focused on increasing autonomy, accessibility and assistive technology at Carolina and beyond. He looked at physical accessibility for people with and without disabilities. He hopes to create accessible ways for people to open doors — if they are in a wheelchair or if they are carrying lots of items — by having buttons by doors in all buildings.

Asamoah also looked at digital accessibility and wants to research how to make websites more accessible and digestible.

He hopes to connect all of this to his future career, using his passions for computer science and medicine to make a difference in the Carolina community and the world.

“Tech is going to be important in the future, and I want to have that approach as a doctor,” said Asamoah. “I want to intersect those fields to learn the nuances between computer science and medicine to figure out problems and solutions regarding accessibility.”

Asamoah hopes to use his Carolina degree to give back, and his Ghanian background to communicate with medical patients across language barriers.

He plans to research the language aspect of medicine, since many translation tools aren’t always accurate.

“When I become a doctor in the future, I want to go back to Ghana and give back,” said Asamoah. “There’s still a lot of improvement that can be done.”