Matilda Clerk

Born in 1916 on the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), Matilda Johanna Clerk was the first Ghanaian woman in any field to secure a scholarship to study abroad. After completing her degree in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Matilda received a diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

She returned to Ghana in 1951 and was a medical officer and superintendent in the Gold Coast Civil Service. She went on to become the senior medical officer at the Communicable Diseases Unit of the Regional Medical Officer of Health’s Office from 1971 to 1973. The male-dominated medical community of the time described her as “the beacon of emancipation of Ghanaian womanhood.”

 

She was also the principal medical officer at the Princess Marie Louise Hospital for Women, working with Ghana’s first female physician Susan de Graft-Johnson, also a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. In 2024, a memorial mural was unveiled at Guy’s Hospital in London in recognition of her contributions to medicine and healthcare.