Dr Komla Tsey transferred to the School of Indigenous Australian Studies and School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at James Cook University as A/Professor in July 2005. Komla was born and educated in Ghana. After an honours degree from University of Ghana, he studied for a PhD at University of Glasgow, where his thesis examined the unequal health consequences of British colonial economic policies for the different socio-economic groups in Ghana. He has taught social science courses to public health professionals and other human services providers over the last 20 years in Ghana and Australia. He has published on a wide range of health social science topics including traditional healers and mental health care in Ghana, Indigenous education and health, program planning and evaluation, and community actions. His contribution to public health was recognized in 2005 with the award of a NHMRC Population Health Career Development Award 2005- 2009.
Prior to joining JCU, Komla was Senior Lecturer at the North Queensland Health Equalities Promotion Unit (NQHEPU) of the School (based in Cairns) from 2000, where he led one of NQHEPU’s two major research programs, Researching the control factor and the concept of empowerment in addressing the social determinants of health. Previously he was Head of Central Australian Unit of Menzies School of Health Research in the Northern Territory, where he worked as part of a team to foster greater understanding and the development of collaborative research between academic researchers and Indigenous organisations, based on mutual respect. He was one of five inaugural Program Leaders in the first round of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health.
Komla has a broad interest in the social determinants of health and evidence-based strategies to reduce health inequalities. He has a strong background in applied social research based on the principles of Participatory Action Research. PAR is an action oriented approach to research that allows ‘ordinary people’ acting as researchers to explore priority issues in their lives, recognise their own strengths and resources, produce knowledge and take action to improve their situation, often in solidarity with external supporters. It is about researchers working with individuals and groups in ways that supports them to take primary responsibility for bringing about their own behaviour and social change.