The halls of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research Conference Centre at the University of Ghana, Legon, hummed with anticipation on Monday, 23rd February 2026. Scientists, students, policymakers, and dignitaries gathered not for ceremony alone, but for a reminder that research, when pursued with integrity and vision, shapes the very fabric of a nation.
Yaw Nsarkoh, addressing the audience as keynote speaker for the NMIMR Quality Week Celebration, set a compelling tone from the start. He began not with accolades or self-reference, but with a challenge wrapped in a phrase that would reverberate throughout his address: “Think Research. Think Quality. Think Noguchi.”
It was not a slogan, he clarified, but a charge; a call to embed sustainability and excellence into every action, every protocol, and every decision at the Institute. “Quality must not be an event,” he said. “It must be a habit.”
From Nostalgia to Purpose
Nsarkoh’s opening was personal, a stroll down memory lane that revealed both his connection to the Institute and the deep roots of scientific curiosity. He recalled visiting the Noguchi premises as a child in the late 1970s, when the campus was a thicket of bush, curious about the gleaming buildings dedicated to Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, the Japanese scientist whose life and work inspired the Institute.
The anecdotes were vivid: slipping away from parents to explore construction sites, speculating whether Noguchi was related to Bruce Lee, and marveling at a facility whose purpose was, at the time, mysterious yet awe-inspiring. “Knowledge is the primary productive force in the advancement of society,” Nsarkoh reflected, connecting childhood curiosity to the Institute’s current role in safeguarding public health.
Acknowledging the giants on whose shoulders he stood, Nsarkoh invoked the legacies of Professor Kwame Gyekye and Professor Biodun Jeyifo, whose commitment to truth and social progress set the tone for a keynote that linked past wisdom to present duty. These references framed his keynote not as abstract guidance, but as a living conversation between history, scholarship, and present responsibility.
Quality as Civilization
From fond memories to urgent realities, Nsarkoh’s address flowed seamlessly into the nation’s pressing challenges, highlighting the stark contrasts between Ghana’s prosperity for a few and deprivation for the many, a disparity he called the “Palanquin Economy.” In this society, the privileged few thrive while structural inequities leave millions behind.
Against this backdrop, quality is more than a technical standard. “Quality is the bridge,” Nsarkoh asserted. It shapes products, services, governance, institutions, and civic life. It requires confronting root causes, learning from failure, and embedding resilience into the systems that govern society.
Drawing from Kaoru Ishikawa, he reminded the audience: “Quality control is not just a technique. It must become a way of life. …The most important thing in quality is to create a climate where everyone can speak up.”
Through these words, Nsarkoh framed research and quality as instruments of civic responsibility: the integrity of data, the rigor of experimentation, and the courage to speak truth to power are all acts of nation-building.
Four Pillars for NMIMR
For the Institute specifically, Nsarkoh offered four concrete suggestions:
- Model and exemplify excellence, not only in high-profile projects but in the fundamentals: cleanliness, punctuality, systematic operations, and consistent leadership.
- Exemplify and advocate a culture of science and facts, combating superstition, misinformation, and reckless speculation in public discourse.
- Champion civic education, deepen public understanding of science’s role in national development, from health to policy.
- Be organic intellectuals, engage society widely, think systemically, and apply knowledge to solve long-term public health challenges.
His call was simultaneously pragmatic and inspirational: small habits, like timeliness and orderly conduct, are the visible scaffolding of societal excellence. “When there is no awareness of time, there can be no planning, and work is never reliable,” he cited from Mahathir Mohamad, emphasizing that leadership must model these virtues.
Nsarkoh was equally critical of societal dysfunctions: media rife with guesswork, political polarization, charlatan prophecies, and environmental mismanagement such as illegal mining. Yet, in all critiques, he maintained optimism. Citing James Baldwin, he reminded his audience: “I can’t be a pessimist because I’m alive… I’m forced to believe that we can survive whatever we must survive.”
Making Science Visible
A recurring theme in the address was visibility. Nsarkoh stressed that the groundbreaking work of NMIMR, whether mitigating COVID-19 impacts or responding to Ebola threats, must be recognized, supported, and celebrated. “Without you, we would not have survived the COVID pandemic,” he affirmed.
He encouraged proactive partnerships with media and stakeholders to ensure that science is not confined to laboratories but reaches the public, influencing understanding, policy, and trust. Here, he drew inspiration from Frantz Fanon: “Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you want them to understand.”
Fun and Fulfillment
Amid the gravity of his points, Nsarkoh did not neglect the human dimension of work. “Have fun,” he said. The quality of life, he reminded, is inseparable from dignity, joy, and motivation. Laboratories, like societies, flourish where curiosity, creativity, and camaraderie are nurtured.
Closing Reflections
As his keynote drew to a close, Nsarkoh returned to philosophy and literature, reminding the audience of Wole Soyinka’s words in Death and the King’s Horseman:
“Life is honour. It ends when honour ends.”
In essence, NMIMR’s mission is not merely to achieve accreditation points or international recognition. It is to model a society where research, quality, and civic responsibility converge, a society that honours truth, nurtures curiosity, and commits to the collective well-being of its people.
Think Research. Think Quality. Think Noguchi.
It was a call not just to scientists, but to Ghana itself, a blueprint for sustainability, excellence, and national pride.
