Emmanuel Augustus Badoe was one of the founding fathers of the Ghana Medical School and the West African College of Surgeons. He was part of a generation which, through hard work and dedication, contributed to the foundation of Ghana as an independent nation. He was born in Asokore, in the Ashanti region of what was then the Gold Coast, on 17 February 1923, to Daniel A Badoe and Mamie Sarpongmaa. He was his father's second son, but his mother's first child. He lived with his mother in Asokore for the first six years of his life and was doted on by her. On the instructions of his father, he was then taken to Axim, in the western region of the country, to stay with his father's cousin, Mangenla, a move which he believed was pivotal in shaping his character. His aunt, whom he called 'Mame', loved him, yet was able to maintain discipline without resorting to corporal punishment. Indeed, he so valued the role she played in his upbringing that he named his first daughter after her, before naming his second daughter after his mother. After completing his studies at Axim Methodist School, he was awarded a Cadbury scholarship to Achimota College in 1938, a year in which the scholarship was awarded to only two boys and one girl in the country. He took the Cambridge School Certificate in 1941 and stayed on at Achimota for a further six months to complete and pass the intermediate preliminary course, which enabled him to qualify for the intermediate BSc, a prerequisite for entering a medical school in the United Kingdom. Between July 1944 and June 1945, while waiting for the results of his London intermediate BSc exam, he was invited to teach maths and general science at Mfantispim School, which one of the happiest periods of his life. He so impressed the headmaster, Mr Bartels, that he was awarded a teacher's certificate. In 1945, having passed his BSc examination, Badoe was awarded a government scholarship to study medicine at Sheffield University, and was among the first batch of Gold Coast students to be sent to England instead of Edinburgh for training. He qualified as a doctor on 24 March 1950. The very next day he married Mercy Fadoa Kwaw, whom he had met at Asokore when he was 18 and she was 16. They had met after Mercy's cousin at Achimota, Carey, asked the young Badoe to deliver a letter to Mercy, a Nzema girl. He delivered the letter to her and, on the following day, when they met again, he asked Mercy if she thought that one day they might get married. 'Yes,' she replied. And that was that! After qualifying as a doctor, Badoe developed his skills in general surgery, orthopaedics and gynaecology at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan and then as a senior house officer in Bolton and Hull. In May 1953 he took and passed his examinations to become a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Three months later, he returned home to the Gold Coast by boat with his wife and infant son, Papa Ebule. In the 1950's and early 1960's, Badoe travelled throughout Ghana, from Tamale to Cape Coast and Sekondi-Takoradi, to Kumasi, working for the government as a surgeon. While he was in Tamale and Cape Coast he was one of only two medical officers in those cities. Prior to the first medical school being set up in Ghana, Badoe, along with Alexander Kwapong and Charles Odamtten Easmon, were tasked by President Kwame Nkrumah to go to Nigeria to visit Ibadan and Lagos, to explore the feasibility of Ghanaians starting a medical school. The group determined that a medical school in Ghana was viable, and in 1964 the Ghana Medical School was formally started. Badoe was head of the department of surgery from 1972 to 1981, vice dean from 1972 to 1976, and later became professor of surgery at the medical school he had helped to found. Alongside his clinical and surgical work, Badoe was a teacher and scholar. His thesis for his degree of master of surgery looked at hydration before, during and after surgery and subsequent water retention. He also studied the fluid and electrolyte needs of Ghanaians. His findings were used to formulate a gastrointestinal replacement fluid named 'Badoe maintenance solution for West Africans', which simplified fluid therapy for medical and nursing staff. Throughout his life Badoe published many articles related to surgery and clinical care in the *West African Journal of Medicine* and the *British Medical Journal*. However, a writing project that was close to his heart, because it catered for the needs of medical students he taught, was the first locally produced surgical textbook: *Principles and practice of surgery, including pathology in the tropics* (Ghana Publishing Company, 1986). With contributions from all over Africa, the textbook, which he co-edited with E Q Archampong and M O A Jaja, is now in a fourth edition, with a fifth edition currently being revised. An advocate of the importance of public health and preventive medicine, in 2004 Badoe edited *Health and disease - a layman's guide to good health* (Smartline publishing) with S K Owusu. The book, written by a team of 19 teachers and consultants at the University of Ghana Medical School and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, aimed to increase public awareness of common diseases such as malaria, HIV, diabetes and many others specific to Sub-Saharan Africa. He also co-authored *Multiple choice questions in surgery and anaesthesia* (Tema, Ghana, Ghana Pub Corp, 1988) with E Q Achampong. Badoe witnessed political change in Ghana at close quarters. He often said that at Ghana's independence in 1957 he believed that a nation blessed with such abundant natural and human resources could one day become a paradise on earth. He was often consulted on medical issues by Ghana's first President Kwame Nkrumah. In 1964 he was appointed as doctor to a Ghanaian delegation led by the president to the Organisation of African Unity conference in Cairo, and was with another such delegation when Nkrumah was deposed in 1966, while in Beijing en route to Hanoi. Following the Progress Party's victory in the 1969 parliamentary elections, the Ministry of Health asked Badoe to become the personal physician to Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia. Professor Badoe agreed and accompanied numerous government delegates on trips abroad until Prime Minister Busia was deposed while on a medical check-up in London in early 1972. In March 1977 Badoe and his friend Silas Dodu, the professor of medicine, were dismissed outright by the military government from their posts in the Medical School. It was felt by the authorities that they had instigated the idea of non-cooperation with the government, when in fact the two had advised caution. There followed one of the biggest strikes ever to take place in Ghana by a professional group, involving both public and private sector doctors, demanding the reinstatement of the two doctors. The government soon capitulated. Known affectionately as 'Uncle Doctor' by younger members of his family, and 'Papa Hygiene-Hygiene' by some of his children, Badoe was a kind, gentle man with a remarkable memory of Ghanaian history and personalities. The bedrock of his life was his family and his late wife, Mercy, whom he believed had been given to him by God. He often said that without the backing of his wife, he would not have been able to achieve what he had. With the support of friends, colleagues and close family, he continued teaching part-time at Ghana Medical School well into his 91st year. He died on 17 October 2015, aged 92. A profound faith in God, love of the Methodist Church, and a strong belief in the innate intelligence and potential of all Ghanaians sustained Badoe throughout the many challenges he faced. *Health and disease - a layman's guide to good health* is dedicated to the people of the Republic of Ghana - as was his long, distinguished life.