Ghana 2012: Surgeon returns to childhood home

For Leslie Ayensu-Coker, MD, next week’s surgical mission trip to Ghana is more than a chance to help young girls with complex gynecological conditions. It’s an opportunity to bring her skills to her childhood home.

Ayensu-Coker is an expert in the surgical repair of congenital reproductive anomalies, reproductive genetics and other conditions affecting young women. She joined Cincinnati Children’s Division of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology in 2008.

After marrying in Ghana, her parents moved to the United States to continue their educations at Howard University. Ayensu-Coker and her twin brother were born in Virginia.

During her early years, she and her brother lived in Ghana with her grandparents. When they were 4, they re-joined her parents in Texas.

Ayensu-Coker became involved with international mission work after joining Marc Levitt, MD, on a trip to Ethiopia in 2009. She played a key role in selecting Ghana as the location for the upcoming mission trip (March 23-30) coordinated by the Colorectal Center at Cincinnati Children’s and with the support of her division director, Lesley Breech, MD.

In this video, Ayensu-Coker discusses how it feels to return to Ghana:

For more information, watch this video describing the Ghana mission.

To see coverage from WVXU-91.7 FM, click here.