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6th DS-I Africa Consortium Meeting

  • Plenary Session: Ethical, Legal & Social Implication Projects

    Facilitator(s)

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    A/Prof Kristen Stafford

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

    Dr. Stafford is an infectious disease epidemiologist with 25 years of experience in the design, implementation, and evaluation of domestic and international HIV care and treatment programs. Domestically she directly implemented Ryan White funded programs as well as served as the Deputy Program Manager and Manager of the Continuous Quality Improvement Program for the Ryan White Part A Program for the Baltimore EMA. Internationally, she served for six years as Director of the Outcomes and Evaluation Program at the Institute of Human Virology - University of Maryland School of Medicine for an eight country, 240 clinic, 700,000 patient HIV care and treatment program funded through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Dr. Stafford has designed and implemented multi-country education and training programs for the integration of monitoring and evaluation and continuous quality improvement programs into HIV programs and served as co-lead author for the WHO guide to implementing quality improvement programs in resource-limited settings. Dr. Stafford's methodological expertise includes complex study design, analytical methods used evaluate patient and program outcomes, immunologic response to antiviral therapy among HIV infected patients, treatment toxicity, retention in the care cascade, and large cohort development and analysis. Her primary research focuses on the epidemiology of aging in the presence of HIV infection and how age is associated with differences in HIV treatment outcomes in resource limited settings with particular focus on immune system recovery and the development of treatment related toxicity and side effects. Dr. Stafford has expertise in advanced epidemiological methods for infectious disease research and serves as the Director of Clinical Research Education Programs in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. She is the Associate Director of the Center for International Health, Education, and Biosecurity at the University of Maryland Baltimore.

    Speakers

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    A/Prof Shawneequa Callier

    BridgELSI: Bridging Gaps in the ELSI of Data Science Health Research in Nigeria

    Bridging Gaps in the ELSI of Data Science Health Research in Nigeria

    Shawneequa Callier is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, DC. She has also served as a Special Volunteer at the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health at the National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH for fourteen years. She has nearly two decades of experience analyzing the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of emerging technologies, which includes her time as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Genetic Research Ethics and Law, at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine. She works on various funded projects that focus on the ELSI of genomics research, data science, and artificial intelligence.

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    Dr Nchangwi Munung

    PUBGEM-Africa: Public Understanding of Big data in Genomics Medicine in Africa

    Public Understanding of Big data in Genomics Medicine in Africa

    Nchangwi Syntia Munung is a bioethics researcher at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her work focuses on science for society, with particular attention to justice and fairness in global health research, ethical data sharing, public and patient engagement in science, the responsible use of data science and genetics in health research, including sickle cell disease and infectious diseases and pyscho-social considerations in health research and medicine. Drawing on African philosophical worldviews and using both empirical and normative approaches, she contributes to discussions on how openness, transparency, shared decision making, accountability, equity and social considerations can be embedded in health research and innovation.

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    Prof Donrich Thaldar

    DSI-LAW: DS-I Africa - Law

    DS-I Africa - Law

    Donrich Thaldar is Full Professor of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. He has published over 70 articles in local and international academic journals, and is the Principal Investigator of a research project on the legal aspects of the use of data science in health innovation in Africa, funded by the NIH. He also has a private legal practice, and has served as legal counsel in 18 reported cases.

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    Prof Keymanthri Moodley

    REDSSA: Research for Ethical Data Science in Southern Africa

    Research for Ethical Data Science in Southern Africa

    Keymanthri Moodley is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Medicine and Head of the Division of Medical Ethics and Law, Faculty of Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. The Division was re-designated as a Collaborating Centre in Bioethics in 2023 for the third time by the World Health Organisation (WHO), one of twelve in the world and the first on the African continent. Keymanthri is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, USA. She is a specialist family physician, bioethicist, an NRF rated researcher (established scholar with international recognition) and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf). To date, she has served as Principal Investigator on 5 NIH grants and has over 130 publications (journals, books, book chapters). The Division has trained 40 mid-career professionals from 10 African countries in bioethics and currently has 4 PhD graduates and 4 PhD trainees. Keymanthri serves on the Scientific Advisory Committee of EDCTP. She currently co-chairs the WHO Working Group on Developing Guidance for Clinical Ethics. She was appointed to the WHO WG on AI and Ethics.

    Rapporteur(s)

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    Mr Benson Githaiga

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

    Aga Khan University

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    Ms Peris Musitia

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

    Ms Musitia is a Hub Manager for UtiliZe Health Information for Meaningful Impact in East Africa through the Data Science Hub (UZIMA-DS) at the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University in Kenya. She oversees the core administrative functions at the UZIMA-DS Hub and provides support for mental health and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH). Musitia ensures that all projects comply with research ethics guidelines, coordinates data dissemination initiatives, facilitates capacity building for research fellows within the hub, and manages grants and sub-grants for the hub. She holds a master's degree in development studies and is currently pursuing a PhD in the same field.