Paa Kwasi Obeng Adjei is Using Data to Improve Healthcare Outcomes

How does a nurse from Ghana end up working as a financial analyst at Maine’s largest healthcare system? For Paa Kwasi Obeng Adjei, the road to a full-time position at MaineHealth Behavioral Health started in a 700-bed teaching hospital in Accra, Ghana. No stranger to healthcare professions, Obeng dreamed of becoming a doctor as a child and was inspired by his mom, a certified nursing assistant (CNA), to explore different healthcare fields. Obeng landed on enrolling in nursing school, graduating in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science (BSN) in nursing from Presbyterian University, Ghana, an affiliate of the University of Ghana Legon, Ghana.  

“In Ghana, all nurses spend a year working for the National Service,” he explained. It was during this year that Obeng observed just how much data healthcare professionals have at their fingertips. Inspired by the idea of using healthcare data to improve patient care and to positively impact patients not in his care, he began exploring graduate degree programs. 

Obeng cast a wide net, exploring opportunities in Europe and across the United States. An educational expo in Accra helped him narrow his focus. “The representative from Northeastern University walked me through the different degree programs and told me all about the Roux and the Alfond Scholars Initiative.” With his sights set on the Master’s degree in analytics with a concentration in applied machine intelligence, Obeng applied and was accepted, beginning his studies in the fall of 2023.  

From the moment he arrived, Obeng was on the lookout for opportunities to marry his healthcare experience with the new skills he was acquiring. “I wanted to learn about how applied machine intelligence tools operate,” he explained. “You can think of applied machine intelligence as the backend of many AI tools that we use,” he elaborated, adding, “I wanted to learn about how these tools can be used to improve patient outcomes.” 

Obeng quickly learned about Roux partner MaineHealth, a not-for-profit integrated health system and the largest in Maine. He secured an internship as a healthcare data analyst on the organization’s neuroscience team. He parlayed that experience into a co-op with MaineHealth Behavioral Health (MHBH). MHBH provides comprehensive mental and behavioral health care services, and their approach to coordinating client and patient care is recognized as a national model for treating people with behavioral health issues. During his co-op he built scorecards and dashboards, turning data into actionable insights.  

As Commencement approaches, he’s been reflecting on the people and experiences that led him to this point. A full circle moment for Obeng was when his mom, who inspired him to pursue healthcare as a career, earned her BSN a year after he earned his. “I’ve always looked up to my mom,” he said. “It’s really meaningful to now be a source of inspiration to her.” Next year his mom will follow in Obeng’s footsteps when she moves to the United States to pursue a master’s degree. “One of my mom’s proudest moments was seeing me on the Roux website,” he said.