TreeHouse Welcomes Radiologist from Ghana, Dr. Nana Wiafe

Meet Dr. Nana Wiafe

Dr. Nana Ama Wiafe of Ghana is conducting her breast imaging fellowship with the Liberty Hospital Breast Care Center, staying right on campus at the TreeHouse during this month. Dr. Nana, as she likes to be addressed, is here to take back her training on state-of-the-art technology, procedures, and processes.

Dr. Nana is an advocate in Ghana for women’s health, fighting decades of radiology, gender, and health misinformation. She hopes to tackle many issues in her country such as insurance not covering preventative mammograms, the stigma that imaging is unsafe due to radiation exposure, transportation from rural areas to receive care, increasing the availability of 3D mammograms/ supplemental screening, and upgrading technology. She says that working under Dr. Amy Patel‘s team here at Liberty Hospital has been enlightening on how to bring back some of these needs to her team overseas.

According to the National Library of Medicine, Breast Cancer, the most common cancer worldwide, is the leading cause of cancer mortality in Ghanaian women. Most women are not diagnosed in Ghana until advanced stages III and IV (Dr. Nana shows studies that 85% women do not come in for diagnosis until stage II-IV), and at a much younger age than the average. With proper funding and advanced technology, other high-income countries and Liberty Hospital’s Breast Care Center are able to detect cancer earlier. “We’re making do with what we have, but I think we can do better… Many things are different,” Dr. Wiafe explains. For comparison, Dr. Patel explains that most of our patients have palpable dense tissue or cysts, which when caught early, have not progressed to cancer stages. Additionally, Dr. Patel remarks, “[Ghana] still uses film screen at Dr. Wiafe’s public hospital and I did not even train on film screen, we use digital with access to 2D and 3D imaging. You can imagine the limitations they have in comparison.”

Dr. Nana is also hopeful she might be able to take her fellowship knowledge back and conduct a study for a year with free screening mammograms, which comes with quite a bit of funding. Everybody in Ghana is eligible for National Health Insurance, but it does not cover screening mammography which a study might help to prove the need component. Additionally, Dr. Patel is working to help find women’s health vendors who can source Dr. Nana and Ghanaian women with much needed improved digital technology.

A home away from home

Supporting a doctor in a fellowship oversees is costly and was difficult for Dr. Nana to find housing accommodations. In early 2025, Dr. Patel reached out to the Foundation about her fellow and wanted her to have easy access during her stay. The Foundation is grateful to have the opportunity to make the TreeHouse Dr. Nana’s home base.  In meeting with Foundation staff, her love for the TreeHouse showed, exclaiming the new renovation was so modern, clean, and comfortable.

Thank you for being our guest, Dr. Nana!  Safe travels, and we can’t wait to see all of the change you will bring to Ghana and beyond.

Published on Friday, June 27, 2025

The Liberty Hospital Foundation supports patients, individuals, families, and employees in the Liberty Hospital community by creating, funding, and promoting programs that improve health, education, wellness, and care. Make a Gift to support our mission, today!