Judith Osae-Larbi is a Research Fellow at WAGMC, where she is also the Co-Director of the new Master of Science Programme in Genetic Counselling. She is a licensed health psychologist with expertise in teaching, research, and provision of patient support solutions.
She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours in Psychology in 2009 from the University of Ghana, her Master of Science degree in Health Psychology in 2011 from the University of Westminster, London, and her PhD in Psychology from the University of Ghana in 2018. In 2017, while pursuing her doctorate degree, she won the 2017 Provost Publications Award (Doctoral) in the College of Humanities of the University of Ghana. She was also a beneficiary of the University of Ghana Carnegie Foundation and the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
Dr. Osae-Larbi began her career in teaching in 2015 with MountCrest University College (MCU) in Ghana, during which period she trained in Best Practices in Medical Education at Penn State College of Medicine, USA. She served on MCU’s Faculty of Health Sciences Academic Board and on the Medical Programmes Curriculum Development Committee. Her roles at WAGMC started with developing the Centre’s novel MSc Genetic Counselling programme curriculum, which is the first of its Kind in sub-Saharan Africa. She was also responsible for obtaining national accreditation from the Ghana
Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) for the programme. Her current academic service includes membership on the Educational and Short Course Committees of WAGMC and the Executive Committee of the GhGenome Project on which she serves as the Behavioural Response Coordinator.
She is passionate about public health promotion via health psychology-based interventions and research. She has experience in designing, implementing, and evaluating patient support solutions including adherence and self-management solutions for diverse patient populations including people living with cancers, diabetes, haemophilia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic illnesses. She also provides mental health support solutions for women in distress. Her research interest lies broadly in the intersections of psychology and health, with a focus on the role of psychological processes and sociocultural factors in health experiences and outcomes. She is currently Principal Investigator on an innovative study – Survey of Women in Ghana on Breast and Cervical Cancer (SWOGBACC) Study –aimed at promoting early identification of breast and cervical cancers in Ghana.
As the Behavioural Response Coordinator for the GhGenome project, she connects her expertise in health psychology research, teaching, and practice to support positive emotional and behavioural responses to genome sequencing and culturally-sensitive public education on genetic diseases and risks.
