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6th DS-I Africa Consortium Meeting

  • Plenary Session: Capacity Building & Training (Research Education Projects)

    Facilitator(s)

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    Dr Laura Povlich

    National Institutes of Health

    Laura Povlich is a Program Director in the Division of International Training and Research at the Fogarty International Center, part of the National Institutes of Health, where she was previously an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow. Dr. Povlich has administered a portfolio of grants that covers a range of research, research training, and research education projects related to global health technology, with a significant focus on information and communication technology. She currently is a coordinator for a new NIH Common Fund program - Harnessing Data Science for Health Discovery and Innovation in Africa (DS-I Africa). Prior to working at Fogarty, Dr. Povlich was the 2011-2012 Materials Research Society/Optical Society Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow in the Office of Congressman Sander Levin. Dr. Povlich earned a B.S.E. in Materials Science and Engineering and a Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering, both from the University of Michigan. Her research focused on the synthesis of functionalized conjugated polymers for biological sensor applications and for neural probe and prosthetic device electrode coatings.

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    Mr Wisdom Akurugu

    DS-I Africa Coordinating Center

    Wisdom Akurugu holds BSc Biochemistry (Single Major) and MSc Bioinformatics degrees. Wisdom is interested in understanding genetic factors that place a person at risk of developing diseases. He has been mining human genetic exome data for variations that may protect or predispose asthmatic children on corticosteroid treatment to hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal suppression (HPAS). He is using various Bioinformatics, Computational and Statistical algorithms to identify, annotate and assess the impact of the potential variants on HPAS. Wisdom is enthusiastic about contributing to the effective and efficient treatment of asthmatics on corticosteroids based on his current project. In the near future, he looks to developing Bioinformatics, Computational and Statistical competencies in analysing large-scale robust genomic data. He is opened to collaborations in the areas of genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, structural biology, software development and teaching.

    Speakers

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    Mr Rabbi Nyarkoh

    DS-ZOOFOOD: Application of Data Science to Build Research Capacity in Zoonoses and Food-Borne Infections in West Africa

    Application of Data Science to Build Research Capacity in Zoonoses and Food-Borne Infections in West Africa

    Rabbi Nyarkoh is a biostatistician and public health researcher with a strong interest in applying data science to health challenges in Africa. He is affiliated with the University of Ghana, where he has pursued advanced training in Biostatistics, with research focused on disease modelling, forecasting, and evidence synthesis. His work spans infectious disease epidemiology, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic and foodborne infections, and the use of quantitative methods to support public health decision-making. Rabbi currently serves as a Research Assistant/Biostatistician on the NIH-funded DS-ZOOFOOD Training Programme, where he supports statistical analysis, infectious disease modelling, and research capacity-building activities in West Africa. He has experience working with diverse health datasets and analytical tools including R, Stata, SQL, and QGIS, and has contributed to systematic reviews and meta-analyses in infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. His broader goal is to use data science and biostatistics to generate actionable evidence that strengthens health systems and improves population health outcomes across Africa.

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    Dr Kennedy Senagi

    ENEZA: Eneza Data Science: Enhancing Data Science Capability and Tools for Health in East Africa

    Eneza Data Science: Enhancing Data Science Capability and Tools for Health in East Africa

    Kennedy Senagi is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe). He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Paris8, France. He has over ten years of experience in data science, machine learning, and software engineering. He works with multi-disciplinary teams to implement solutions in multiple domains such as health, agriculture, and climate.

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    Prof Mayowa Owolabi

    Harnessing Data Science for better Brain and Vascular Health : GRASPing and realizing the vision

    Growing Data-science Research in Africa to Stimulate Progress

    Prof. Mayowa OWOLABI Dr.M., MD, DSc, FAAN, FANA, FAHA, FRCP, FAMedS, FAAS, FAS, FTWAS

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    Dr Seydou Doumbia

    WACE-DSRE: West Africa Center of Excellence for Data Science Research Education

    West Africa Center of Excellence for Data Science Research Education

    Dr. Doumbia hold an MD degree from the National School of Medicine of Bamako, Mali and a Ph.D. from Tulane University, New Orleans, USA (2002) as WHO/TDR research training grantee. Dr. Doumbia, M.D., Ph.D., is Dean of the Medical School and Dentistry of the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technology of Bamako-(USTTB) since 2014 and Director of the University Clinical Research Center (UCRC). From 2006 to 2016 Dr Doumbia has been Deputy Scientific Director at the Malaria Research and Training Center (MRTC) of the NIAID-USTTB International Center of Excellence in Research (ICER-Mali) and Chair of the Department of Public Health of University of Bamako-USTTB (2011-2014). Dr. Doumbia research involves infectious diseases mainly malaria and leishmaniasis and HIV to facilitate the test of new interventions and cutting edge technology for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of those diseases. Dr. Doumbia is Program Director/Principal Investigator of several NIAID/NIH funded research grant including the West Africa International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR), Tropical Medicine Research Center (TMRC) Program on leishmaniasis and Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases. He has been involved in several capacity building initiatives in Africa through NIH Fogarty supported training grants: 1] in public health (MPH) in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, 2] in Bioinformatics/Genomics supported by H3Africa program (Human Health and Heredity in Africa) in collaboration with Tulane University in USA and Covenant University of Nigeria. Other capacity building activities involves the development of clinical research at University of Bamako (University Clinical Research Center, UCRC) and the development of a West African Sub-consortium for clinical research on emerging infectious diseases, a network including Mali, Guinea Conakry, Liberia and Sierra Leone, aimed to harmonized clinical research for multi-center studies. Dr. Doumbia has been successfully awarded of and administered several research and training grants funded by WHO/TDR, NIH, CDC, USAID, UNICEF and IRDC. Dr. Doumbia collaboration in research and training involves several research institutions and Universities including JHU, Tulane University, GWU, Covenant University in Nigeria, ISPED of Bordeaux in France, University of Copenhagen in Denmark, University of Cape Town in South Africa, University of Ghana and UCAD/Thies in Senegal.

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    Prof Benjamin Aribisala

    Data Science and Medical Image Analysis Training for Improved Health Care Delivery in Nigeria (DATICAN)

    Data Science and Medical Image Analysis Training for Improved Health Care Delivery in Nigeria

    Professor Aribisala Benjamin Segun is a Professor of Computer Science and a Fulbright Scholar. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham, U.K. He became a professor of computer science in 2013. He has over 30 years of work experience as an academic staff and he has served at several leadership positions in the University, such as the Head of the Department of Computer Science, the Dean of the Faculty of Science, the Director of ICT, a member of the Governing Council in Lagos State University and Vice Chancellor of Oduduwa University. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Computing in Lagos State University. He has worked as an academic staff in the UK, USA and Nigeria. For example, Newcastle University (England, U.K.), the University of Edinburgh (Scotland, U.K.) and The University of Chicago (Illinois, USA) as a Fulbright Visiting Professor of Computer Science. In June 2024, he was appointed by the Governor of Lagos State, His Excellency, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu as a member of the Lagos State Research and Innovation Council. His research interests cut across data science, medical image analysis, machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence.

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    A/Prof Celestin Twizere

    SYNAPSE: SYNthetic Healthcare DAta Platform for Data Science Training

    SYNthetic Healthcare DAta Platform for Data Science Training

    Celestin Twizere is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Electronics, Electromagnetism and telecommunication at the University of Rwanda, College of science and technology and Director of the East Africa Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and e-Health (CEBE), hosted by University of Rwanda. He has experience in Higher Education training and leading, conducting and publishing in telecommunications, computer science and mHealth technology for more than 22 years. In the role of CEBE Director, Twizere has gained valuable experience in the management of funding from African Development Bank and other different funding agencies including NIH for over 8 years. One of the highest priorities is to implement telemedicine technologies, Electronic Health Records (EHR), and interoperability of systems to link East African Centers of Excellence and specialized health care facilities across the region. With his telecommunication background (Ground Penetrating Radar, Wireless Communication and Networks, Electromagnetic Radiation and Propagation, and Smart Antenna for Mobile Communication), his spectrum of work is broad as he is collaborating in different projects in digital health as a main leader or co-leader. These include strengthening research capacity and expertise in digital health, digitalizing the hospital patient trajectory and secondary use of EHRs in Rwanda, e-mental healthcare architecture as

    Rapporteur(s)

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    Dr Patrick Mwangala

    UtiliZing health Information for Meaningful impact in East Africa through Data Science

    Dr. Patrick Mwangala is a psychiatric epidemiologist and implementation scientist with background training in Global Mental Health from the University of London, UK, and a PhD in Public Mental Health from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He has extensive experience in epidemiological and interventional research spanning 10 years from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (2016 to 2022) and the Aga Khan University - Institute for Human Development (2022 - present). Patrick's research interests are in understanding the mental & cognitive health of vulnerable populations, including children, adolescents, older adults, and people living with chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS, sickle cell disease, and epilepsy in low-resource settings. He is keen on addressing the knowledge gaps on the burden and determinants of cognitive, mental, and functional outcomes in these populations and use the data to catalyze policy actions and guide the development of age-appropriate treatment models and evidence-based preventative interventions.

    Mr Denis Omondi Owiti

    UtiliZing health Information for Meaningful impact in East Africa through Data Science

    Senior Data Scientist & Grant Writer with 10+ years delivering impact across donor-funded health programs (KfW, NIH UZIMA-DS, SRH/FP). Expert in R, Python, SAS, Power BI, M&E, and ML-turning complex data into actionable insights for policy and population health. MSc Statistics.