Elsie Effah Kaufmann is a Ghanaian academic, biomedical engineer, and quiz mistress for the National Science and Maths Quiz.

Before Elsie Kaufmann started hosting the show in 2006, Marian Ewurama Addy was the quiz mistress from 1993 to 2000, and Eureka Emefa Adomako from 2001 to 2005.

In December 2020, Elsie Kaufmann was appointed a professor at the University of Ghana.

Kaufmann had her secondary education at the Aburi Girls' Senior High School. She obtained her International Baccalaureate Diploma from the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales in 1988. She proceeded to the University of Pennsylvania for her Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE), and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering.

Kaufmann was a Research Supervisor at the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University in New Jersey, the United States of America from May 1998 to June 2001; after being a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, United States of America.

She was also a Senior Lecturer and the first Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana (2006–2012, 2014–2016).

Kaufmann was a Fellow of the International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation. She was awarded 2009, as the University of Ghana's Best Teacher Award for the Sciences.

She received the International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation Fellowship in 2011 and the 2017 Impact Africa Summit Laureate for Education in Ghana.

She is also the first female recipient of the 2018 Golden Torch Award for International Academic Leadership by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at the 44th Annual Conference held in the United States of America.

She is also the recipient of the National Society of Black Engineers' 2018 Golden T.O.R.C.H. (Technical OutReach and Community Help) Award for International Academic Leadership in recognition of her excellence in support of academics on an international level and exhibition of commitment to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

Dr. Effah Kaufmann is a Board member of the African Gifted Foundation Ghana (African Science Academy) and the British International School-Ghana. She is the current President of the Ghana Society of Biomedical Engineers.

Selected publications

E.A.B. Effah Kaufmann, P. Ducheyne, I.M. Shapiro, “Evaluation of osteoblast response to porous bioactive glass (45S5) substrates by RT-PCR analysis,” Tissue Engineering 6(1), 19-28 (2000).

E.A.B. Effah Kaufmann, P. Ducheyne, I.M. Shapiro, “The effect of varying physical properties of porous, surface modified bioactive glass 45S5 on osteoblast proliferation and maturation,” J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 52(4), 783-796 (2000).

Godfrey A. Mills, Thomas A. Nketia, Isaac A. Oppong, Elsie Effah Kaufmann, “Wireless Digital Stethoscope Using Bluetooth Technology,” International Journal of Engineering Science and Technology, 4(8), 3961-3969 (2012).

Kathleen H. Sienko, Elsie Effah Kaufmann, Moses Musaazi, Amir Sabet Sarvestani, Samuel Obed, “Obstetrics-Based Clinical Immersion of a Multinational Team of Biomedical Engineering Students in Ghana,” International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 127(2), 218-220 (2014).

Ibrahim Mohedas, Elsie Effah Kaufmann, Shanna R. Daly, Kathleen H. Sienko, “Ghanaian undergraduate biomedical engineering students’ perceptions of their discipline and career opportunities,” Global Journal of Engineering Education 17(1), 34-41 (2015).

Research

Design of scaffolds for tissue engineering applications.

Characterization of natural materials (e.g. cassava fibre).

Application of Biomedical Engineering concepts to addressing problems in the Ghanaian context: e.g. Use of biomaterials in Ghana, Engineering Design.

Engineering Education.