Ghanaian doctor joins BRMC staff

Baxter Regional Medical Center has added two new physicians to its staff.

Nephrologist Dr. Kofi Asante Appiah has joined Dr. Daniel Valach in practice at Arkansas Nephrology and Hypertension P.A. located in the Medical Arts Building next to BRMC. And surgeon Dr. Kent P. Nachtigal has returned to Ozark Surgical Group.

Appiah graduated from the Maine Medical Center Nephrology Program in Portland, Maine. He did internship and residency at Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Md., an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also has done internship rotations in internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and pathology at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana.

His professional experience includes work as hospitalist attending at Good Samaritan Hospital and as senior medical officer at Settlers' Hospital in Grahamstown, South Africa.

He is a graduate of the University of Ghana Medical School in Accra, Ghana, and of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Mass.

He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is eligible for certification in nephrology.

Appiah is an associate of the American Society of Nephrology, the National Kidney Foundation, the American College of Physicians ? American Society of Internal Medicine and the American Medical Association. He also has helped author articles about studies in which he has been involved.

His hobbies include lawn tennis, golf and watching football and basketball. He speaks English, French and his native language, Akan.

Nachtigal is certified by the American Board of Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

He received his bachelor's degree from South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D., and attended the South Dakota State University Medical School in Vermillion, S.D. He did his residency in general surgery at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kan.

Nachtigal's additional specialties include laparoscopic, thoracic and vascular surgery.