Dr Konotey-Ahulu graduated from UCL and Westminster Hospital School of Medicine in 1959. Returning home he joined the Ghana civil service as a medical officer. He continued his studies at Liverpool Tropical Medicine and Hygiene University.

Whilst being a Physician Specialist and Director of the Ghana Institute of Clinical Genetics he made several discoveries including Haemoglobin Korle-Bu and Haemoglbin Osu-Christiansborg. In 1972 he was one of the recipients of the Dr Martin Luther King Jr foundation award “ for outstanding research in Sickle Cell Anaemia”.