My Black History: Kofi Essel

I met Kofi back in 2005 at Emory University when I worked for the Alumni Association and at the time he was the Student Body President at Emory. To be honest it was at first his good looks that caught my attention but when I met him I was humbled by his grace and the way in which he carried himself. I had no idea at the time of what an amazing man I would be fortunate enough to say I know and in the future to say “I knew him when. . . ” After a very rough time at Emory I came back to DC for round two at my masters and as I walked into student housing at GW, I backed up and I couldn’t believe my eyes. . . . it WAS KOFI!!! I said to him “Are you following me?” Which was so funny because he had been in DC for over a year, so technically I would have been following him.

Kofi is the hardest working most disciplined student I have ever known in my life. He does not own a TV (which I personally think is wrong- thats why he does so well in school), he spends every minute that he can learning. Not just “studying” but learning. I have said it before and I will continue to say it, there are just simply some people that are in medical school that should only go into surgery or research. . . Kofi will be the most amazing physician. I would trust him with my life any day at any time and would trust him with my future children period, end of story.

His presence makes me want to be a better person. He follows God in everything he says and does. Many people make the statement “they never say anything bad about anyone” but literally Kofi NEVER says anything bad about anyone because he is not about that. Don’t be mistaken when I say that he Kofi is always positive, he truly understands the oppressions of the world and the US and that is why he spends his time giving back. I think what I appreciate the most is that Kofi is forgiving. He is even forgiving of me when I have been ignorant in general or made ignorant comments to him. I just wish there were words to even describe the man . . . but when I think of how much he has taught me I become inspired. Thank you Kofi.

Kofi Essel’s Bio (the condensed version of course):

“Kofi Essel, is currently a 2nd year medical student at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Kofi serves as a Nutrition and Health Consultant with the the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education (SHIRE). Kofi earned his BS from Emory University with a focus on Human Biology/Anthropology. During his undergraduate studies he also started his role as a Nutrition Health Educator for his college and surrounding Atlanta community. At George Washington, Kofi serves as a co-leader of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations focused on motivating, educating, and equiping Christian Physicians to glorify Jesus Christ in their role as servants to the health field. physicians. Kofi also serves as the president of the George Washington Society of Health and Nutrition (SOHN) which he co-founded in 2007 focused on empowering George Washington University student health care professionals on practical nutrition and health concepts to apply to their own lifestyles as well as their patient and community populations. Along with serving as the president of GW SOHN, Kofi serves as a member of a DC Childhood Obesity Collaborative Intervention committee and also is currently serving as a Paul Ambrose Fellow and will be leading programs to educate GW Health care students to teach nutrition education projects to children in lower income areas of DC.”