Student Spotlight: Adjoa Manu

Meet Adjoa Manu, a Ph.D. candidate from the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health.

 
Manu is entering the final year of her Ph.D. in the Community Health program and plans to offer a defense of her dissertation in the spring of 2026.

Manu earned a B.S. of administration and accounting from University of Ghana and pivoted to an M.P.H. degree. After several years of work as a research analyst, Manu began looking for an entry into community health and eventually landed at OHSU.

“I was a research assistant for the University of Ghana School of Public Health and really liked their public health approach, so I applied and was able to earn my M.P.H. Then I realized that while you don’t need a Ph.D., it gives you more advantages to be a principal investigator and receive grants,” she said.

“I [wanted to have] more community engagement and reach people directly impacted by public health. [A Ph.D. in community health is] closely related to my interests, career opportunities, and my accounting and administration background was more likely to integrate easily,” said Manu.

After looking at several other schools and completing a general application through the SOPHAS centralized service, a centralized application service for public health programs, Manu chose OHSU after building a pros and cons list. Her biggest draws were the shared program ownership of OHSU and PSU, the community and student life options jointly provided by the two schools, and funding she secured for her degree at OHSU. The All-Hill Student Council events, CAP book club, Food Resource Center, mindful writers’ group and OHSU Wellness programs all land in her ‘pros’ column. Everyone Manu has interacted with, be they staff, faculty or students has been encouraging and supportive during her time at OHSU.

While she doesn’t have an abundance of free time, Manu does enjoy short road trips with her host family when her schedule frees up. Her faith community helped her find lodging in the Portland Metro area and she has explored Central Oregon and the deserts in Southern California, among others, to get a break from “all the rain and gray.”

Once her defense is completed, Manu hopes to continue a career in higher education as a faculty member and researcher. She has spoken with her advisor about OHSU programs like Training Future Faculty and the Career Design Studio. Manu is leaving the door open as to where she’ll end up, whether it’s a return to her native Ghana, staying in the U.S., or relocating to Switzerland or Japan.

 
Written by Seth Preuss, OHSU Senior Communications Specialist