Nicholas Ossei-Gerning entered Mfantsipim School in 1977. He spent his first few years in Sarbah-Picot House but was in Lockhart-Schweizer when he finished Form 5 in 1982. He thereafter joined his parents and siblings in the UK.
After 6th Form, he went on to study medicine at the University College in London. A residency in Cardiology followed at the Yorkshire Heart Center in Leeds. He then did a fellowship in the burgeoning field of interventional cardiology at the University of Alberta in Canada.
Following the completion of his fellowship, he took a job as a Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at the University Hospital of Wales. Soon, he was named Clinical Lead of the Chest Pain Service in Cardiff.
As an interventional cardiologist, he championed new techniques such as the radial approach, rotational atherectomy, and the use of lasers in cardiology interventions, as well as various aspects of Chronic Total Occlusions.
Through conversations with his patients and research, he noted a strong connection between vasculogenic erectile dysfunction and coronary artery disease. He would go on to become a leading authority in the stenting of pudendal vessels as treatment for vasculogenic ED.
He has travelled internationally to give talks on vasculogenic ED. He has also worked on the psychological effects of heart disease and erectile dysfunction.
His work outside the UK includes a practice in Ghana, where, in June of 2016, under the most challenging conditions, he saved the life of a man with 99% occlusion of his left main coronary artery, and chronic total occlusions of his right main, left anterior descending and circumflex arteries. The recipient of this care would later detail the unbelievable and heroic actions of Nick in a book titled “Heartbeats of Grace”.
Besides being an expert in his field, he is also a great leader. He is a key figure in the Sub-Saharan Africa Myocardial Infarction and Stroke Group, where he leads efforts to improve the management of heart attacks and strokes in the region. He has also been a faculty member for the British and European Cardiac Interventional Societies and the Co-Course Director of the African Percutaneous Revascularisation. He is the former Medical Director of Euracare Advanced Diagnostic & Heart Centre in Accra and was intimately involved in the setting up of one of Ghana’s leading centers for advanced diagnostic and heart care.
Due to his work and contributions, Nick has received numerous awards. He is the Professor of Practice at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the Silas Dodu Chair of Cardiology at the University of Cape Coast School of Medical Sciences. In 2024, he was awarded an OBE in the King’s New Year’s Honours for his services to cardiology and work in Africa.
Nick looks back at his years at Mfantsipim School with great nostalgia and appreciates the qualities of hard work, discipline, teamwork, healthy competition, and organization that those years nurtured. In Mfantsipim, he was also a pianist with the group Joyful Way.
At the moment, Nick divides his time between his practices in Cardiff, Wales, and Accra, Ghana.
His daughter, Eva Ossei-Gerning, played the role of young Lady Rhaena Targaryen in the first season of the Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon.
Nicholas Ossei-Gerning is an illustrious son of Mfantsipim, a Botwe boy.
By Nana Dadzie Ghansah
