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6th DS-I Africa Consortium Meeting

  • Plenary Session: Data Science for Maternal, Child, and Environmental Health

    Facilitator(s)

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    A/Prof Emma Kalk

    INnovative data Science to Impact the TB Epidemic

    Associate Professor Emma Kalk is a clinical epidemiologist with a focus on operational research in maternal and child health. Her current interests include pharmacovigilance and surveillance in pregnant and breast-feeding women with an emphasis on antiretroviral and anti-tuberculosis therapy, as reflected in her publication record. She manages the Pregnancy Exposure Registry in Cape Town (a sentinel-site of the South African Pregnancy Exposure Registry) which is supported by a larger population-level database. This involves collaborations with pregnancy registries nationally within South Africa and regionally. She works closely with colleagues from the provincial department of health to optimise data use for improved service delivery. Dr Kalk is co-chair of the International Union against Tuberculosis & Lung Disease Maternal-Child Working Group and co-chairs the Surveillance Working Group of the WHO/USAID/SMART4TB Optimal inclusion of pregnant women in TB drug and vaccine research consensus process.

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    Dr Meagan Fitzpatrick

    Role of Data Streams In Informing Infection Dynamics in Africa- INFORM Africa

    Dr. Fitzpatrick is an infectious disease transmission modeler. She applies these models to assess infectious disease control strategies, with particular focus on evaluating the cost-effectiveness of vaccines. Her research combines methods from economics and decision sciences with these epidemiological models, to provide policy recommendations and support evidence-based decision-making. Her research priorities include evaluation of vaccines and therapeutics against RSV, rotavirus, and pertussis, as well as strategies to reduce maternal and infant mortality in low-income settings. Additional pathogens of interest have included rabies, influenza, HIV, Zika, and Ebola. Dr. Fitzpatrick joined the faculty of the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in 2017. She is also an affiliate of the Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis (CIDMA) at the Yale School of Public Health. She received her PhD from Yale University and her BS from the University of Notre Dame, IN. She is currently a resident of Kampala, Uganda.

    Speakers

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    A/Prof Kofi Adeladza Amegah

    Air pollution child health effects in sub-Saharan Africa: Spatial variability and effect modification

    Leveraging Data Science Applications to Improve Children's Environmental Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

    I am an Associate Professor of Environmental and Nutritional Epidemiology at University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and Vice-Dean of the School of Public Health. I lead a public health research group in the Department of Biomedical Sciences with our work at the interface of nutrition and air pollution health effects, and focused on maternal, perinatal and cardiovascular health outcomes. We leverage modern and robust epidemiological and statistical methods, and emerging data science techniques to investigate these relationships. I am particularly interested in understanding the biological mechanisms mediating air pollution exposure health effects and the ameliorating role of nutrition (vitamin D and antioxidant nutrients specifically), and recently established a birth cohort in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Area (CAMAC) to effectively pursue this research inquiry. I lead the GhanaAQ and Breathe Accra projects which has deployed a mixture of low cost sensors and reference grade monitors in Accra and other urban settlements of Ghana to bridge air quality data gaps, create public awareness of the air pollution problem for local action, and conduct epidemiologic research. I also focus on interrogating nutrition and air pollution policy issues in Sub-Saharan Africa

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    Dr Tamara Govindasamy

    CHaracterizing the Effects of Air Quality In Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

    CHaracterizing Effects of Air Quality In Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: The CHEAQI-MNCH Research Project

    Research scientist at IBM Research Africa, with a PhD in physics. Part of the HE2AT Center and co-MPI on the CHEAQI-MNCH project. Research experience primarily involved in the application of AI for climate and sustainability through collaborative cross-disciplinary projects on

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    Prof Amina Abubakar

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

    Prof Amina Abubakar is a Kenyan research psychologist with over 20 years of research experience. She is a Professor and the Director of the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University. Her interests are in both acquired and congenital brain disorders, with some of her most significant contributions including the development of open-access assessment tools and the description of the neurocognitive and mental health outcomes associated with various health conditions. She is also passionate about women's empowerment and has received a grant to train and empower more women scientists in neuroscience and brain health research.

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    Dr Eric Katagirya

    DSpace: Utilizing Data Science to Predict and Improve Health Outcomes in Pediatric HIV

    DSpace: Utilizing Data Science to Predict and Improve Health Outcomes in Pediatric HIV

    Eric Katagirya is a physician-biomedical scientist based at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda. His research applies molecular, sequencing, and computational approaches to understanding host-pathogen interactions in HIV and tuberculosis, with a particular focus on gene expression perturbations in children co-infected with HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. His current work integrates transcriptomics, machine learning, and population genomics to develop host-targeted diagnostics for pediatric TB-HIV coinfection, and to characterise the role of ancestry and genetic variation in shaping immune gene expression across African cohorts.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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    Dr Tatenda Makanga

    The Heat Before Birth: Pan-African individual-participant-data meta-analysis of ambient heat and pregnancy outcomes

    CHaracterizing Effects of Air Quality In Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: The CHEAQI-MNCH Research Project

    An applied geo-data scientist, I am interested in the impacts of the environment on health. I am a Climate and health Research Scientist at CeSHHAR Zimbabwe, and Senior Lecturer at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Midlands State University (MSU) in Zimbabwe. At CeSHHAR I lead a team of data scientists investigating the impacts of heat on maternal and newborn health outcomes. At MSU, I lead the Place Alert Labs (PALs), a mixed methods health geography/GISc research initiative. Through PALs, my team does research on the mediating effect of climate and the environment on health outcomes.

    Rapporteur(s)

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    Ms Diana Awuor

    Multimorbidity in Africa: Digital innovation, visualisation and application

    My name is Diana Awuor, and I serve as a Program Administrator at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). In this role, I support the coordination and implementation of research and program activities aimed at improving health and development outcomes across Africa. I provide administrative, operational, and program management support to multidisciplinary teams, helping ensure the smooth planning, communication, and execution of key initiatives. My work involves collaborating closely with researchers, project teams, and institutional units to streamline processes, manage program resources, and facilitate effective collaboration across projects. I am passionate about contributing to initiatives that promote health equity, community well-being, and sustainable development across the African continent. Through my work, I strive to support research-driven solutions that address critical population and health challenges.

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    Dr Eileen Haus

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

    Eileen Weinheimer-Haus is a Senior Project Manager in the Department of Learning Health Sciences. She has been a project manager with Akbar K. Waljee, MD, MSc for the past several years and is involved in the development and execution of programs and projects related to using Big Data and novel machine-learning analytical tools to guide precision and population health, with a particular focus on resource-constrained settings. Eileen currently serves as the U-M Program Management lead for UtiliZing health Information for Meaningful impact in East Africa through Data Science (UZIMA-DS), an NIH U54 Research Hub which Dr. Waljee Co-Leads with the Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya. She also works closely with Dr. Waljee on several projects in the VA Center for Clinical Management Research. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, she spent time in academia and industry in the areas of nutrition, exercise, metabolism, and aging. These experiences fostered proficiencies in project management in health-related fields, include experimental design and study execution, management of large studies and data sets, and scientific writing. Eileen holds a PhD in Nutrition Science, a MS in Exercise Physiology, and is Registered Dietitian Nutritionist.