The Medical Mission

Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, MD

Dr. Boachie-Adjei has dedicated his life to improving the lives of his fellowmen by making his primary work correcting incidents of pervasive spinal defects found among many of his African countrymen. As Founder and President of the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine (FOCOS) he has helped provide orthopedic medical care to underserved populations in West Africa and other third world nations since 1998.

In 2014, Dr. Boachie-Adjei bid a fond farewell to the Hospital for Spinal Surgery (HSS) in New York so he could retire in his own words "to devote his time and talents on one of the most debilitating medical conditions of my country." His return to Ghana has been in the making for many years. "In 1972 I came to the U.S. for a purpose and I have achieved that and this is the realization of my dream. I have trained at the finest orthopedic hospitals in the country, and have given back what I could. If I want to train more surgeons in Ghana, now is the time."

Typical of the esteem which Dr. Boachie-Adjei is held by his colleagues is this commendation by one of his colleagues, Dr. Rick Hodes, Medical Director, American Jewish Joint Distribution Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: "Dr. Boachie-Adjei is changing spinal surgery in Ghana, in Ethiopia, and is transforming the spines and the lives of some of the most deformed kids on this planet. It is our honor to work closely with him every day."

Oheneba Boachie-Adjei was born in Kumasi, Ghana one of the poorest areas of the subcontinent of Africa. After struggling to obtain an education in Kumasi, he and his family immigrated to the United States in 1972. He studied at Brooklyn College and completed his undergraduate education (summa cum laude) in 1976. In 1980 he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians &
Surgeons. He was Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Minnesota; Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Southern California and Assistant Clinical Professor, University of California College of Medicine, Irvine; and Associate Medical Director at the Southern California Complex Spine and Scoliosis Center.

Dr. Boachie-Adjei has published and lectured extensively on spine surgery, with special emphasis on surgery to correct spine deformity and he is an inventor who holds several patents for devices used in spine surgery.