She initially joined the Department of Physics where she taught undergraduate courses and also supported teaching in the Dental School and the then newly formed Department of Physiotherapy. Incidentally she was the first Ghanaian female to be appointed full-time to the Department of Physics. During the period between 2001 and 2006 she was a member of the committees that prepared proposals for the establishment of the Departments of Physiotherapy, Radiography, Audiology and Medical Physics.

In 2001 she was nominated to serve on the planning committee set up by the Academic Board of the University to make proposals for establishing the then Faculty of Engineering Sciences, now the School of Engineering Sciences. On this committee her major responsibility was to develop the academic programme and curriculum for Biomedical Engineering and coordinate the development of the Materials Science and Engineering programme and curriculum. She was later nominated as a member of the three-person Implementation Committee set up by the Vice Chancellor following the submission and adoption of the Planning Committee’s report.

More recently, she spent the whole of 2021 as a Visiting Scholar and Founding Head of the newly- established Department of Orthotics and Prosthetics at University of Health and Allied Sciences.
Ing. Prof. Effah Kaufmann’s teaching and research are focused on tissue engineering, biomaterials, design of scaffolds for tissue engineering applications, characterization of natural materials and the application of biomedical engineering concepts to the solution of problems in the Ghanaian context.

She has also published in Engineering Education. In spite of her heavy administrative and teaching responsibilities, she has consistently developed and cultivated a reputation for service at the University and at National and International levels as indicated by her service on numerous committees. She has served on the University of Ghana Council and she currently sits on the Boards/ Advisory Councils of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Ghana Communication Technology University and Institute of Project Management Professionals—Ghana. She is also a Council Member and Professional Engineer of the Ghana Institution of Engineering, a Fellow of Biomaterials Science and Engineering (an accolade awarded by the International Union of Societies for Biomaterials Science and Engineering) and a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

She is the immediate past President of the Ghana Society of Biomedical Engineers. Prof. Effah Kaufmann has contributed immensely towards the development of Science and Engineering education at all levels in Ghana, and beyond and has been the Host and Quiz Mistress of the National Science & Maths Quiz since 2006. She has been an invited speaker at numerous high profile fora both nationally and internationally and has received a number of prestigious local and international awards.