Hello, My name is Leslie Brian Essel and I am from Ghana on the west coast of Africa. I am a pharmacist by profession with a Bachelor of Pharmacy and Master of Philosophy in Pharmacology from the School of Pharmacy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. I obtained a Master of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) in the Spring of 2020. Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at UMKC.

I have a keen interest in a career in academia, so I have been training over the past few years to be an independent researcher. I am also enrolled in the UMKC College Teaching and Career Preparation Program to acquire the skills I will need to teach in American Colleges and Universities. 

I like to read novels (Tom Clancy and John Grisham are my favorite authors!) whenever I can. I play soccer with my friends on some weekends, and on a beautiful day, I grab my camera and go out on a 'photo-walk' to capture images of nature.