Dickson holds a PhD in international public health from the University of Bergen in Norway. He obtained a double Master of Science degree in international health from University of Copenhagen, Denmark; University College London, UK; and University of Bergen in Norway. Dickson graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Ghana. He has certificates in implementation research, and nutritional epidemiology and biostatistics, obtained respectively from WHO and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA.

Prior to joining APHRC, Dickson worked as a research fellow at the Navrongo Health Research Centre (NHRC), Ghana. He has also worked as senior research officer/clinical research coordinator and research assistant respectively, on several epidemiological and public health studies, including malaria epidemiology, morbidity, efficacy studies, child survival studies, birth cohort studies, and vaccine and drug trials at the NHRC. He has published several peer-reviewed papers in the areas of maternal and child nutrition, dietary diversity, childcare, malnutrition (both under and over-nutrition), childhood diseases and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

He is driven by a strong desire to improve the health and well-being of the vulnerable in society. His research interests include but are not limited to maternal and child health, dietary diversity, maternal and child nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, obesity/non-communicable diseases, urban food systems, urban health and health systems.