Elsie Effah Kaufmann

Elsie Effah Kaufmann is a Ghanaian academic, biomedical engineer and quiz mistress for the National Science andMaths Quiz. Before Kaufmann started hosting the show in 2006, Marian Ewurama Addy was the quiz mistress from 1993 to 2000 and Eureka Emefa Adomako from 2001 to 2005.

Kaufmann had her secondary education at the Aburi Girls' Senior High School. She obtained her International Baccalaureate Diploma from United World College of the Atlantic in Wales in 1988. She proceeded to the University of Pennsylvania for her Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE), a Master of Science in Engineering (MSE) and PhD in Biomedical Engineering.

Kaufmann was a Research Supervisor at the Department of Chemistry at Rutgers University in New Jersey, United States of America (USA) from May 1998 to June 2001; after being a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, United States of America. She was also a Senior Lecturer and the first Head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Ghana (2006-2012, 2014-2016).

Kaufmann was a Fellow of the International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation. She was awarded in 2009, as the University of Ghana's Best Teacher Award for the Sciences.

She received the International Women's Forum Leadership Foundation Fellowship in 2011 and the 2017 Impact Africa Summit Laureate for Education in Ghana.

She is also the first female recipient of the 2018 Golden Torch Award for International Academic Leadership by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) at the 44th Annual Conference held in the United States of America.

She is also the recipient of the National Society of Black Engineers' 2018 Golden T.O.R.C.H. (Technical OutReach and Community Help) Award for International Academic Leadership in recognition of her excellence in support of academics on an international level and exhibition of commitment to the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematic (STEM) fields.