Second Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium
29 October -2 November 2022

Ms Sharon Sawe (Participant)

My name is Sharon Jepkorir Sawe. I am a young data scientist with a strong passion to apply data science in the field of health to create informed policies. I have a bachelors degree in Applied statistics with computing from Moi University where I graduated with a first class honors in 2018. I have also completed my master of science in data science with a specialization in Biostatistics at the African Centre of excellence in data science at the University of Rwanda, which I am set to graduate this October 2022. My Msc research was focused on development of interpretable machine learning algorithms to predict low birth weight in Kenya using maternal risk factors. I have also been accepted as a PhD student in Pharmacometrics at the University of Capetown division of clinical pharmacology where I will apply my mathematical modelling and data science skills in drug development and drug discovery. I am set to begin the program this september 2022. This opportunity will also expose me to applying data science in pharmacy. I have also worked on seasoned contracts at Ampath in collaboration with Brown University on a few projects. I have been involved on developing a novel user-friendly emulator in Kenya to model the impact of integrated interventions for HIV and non-communicable diseases (including hypertension and mental health disorders) using R via a published step-by-step tutorial. This work is under peer review where I am the first author of the paper. I have also worked on a data for impact project which involved multilevel mixed effects modelling of factors associated with neonatal mortality in Kenya. I have also worked on a project on evaluation of cardiovascular disease guideline dissemination whose objective was to conduct a baseline & endline evaluation for the aforementioned project to assess effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, sustainability, lessons learnt & best practices in the implementation of the project & make recommendations for future implementation. Currently, I am doing an extension of the emulator project to model the cost and cost effectiveness of integrating HIV, hypertension and depression in Kenya.