Third Meeting of the DS-I Africa Consortium
3 November - 9 November 2023

Prof Celestin Twizere - Speaker

Research Training in Data Science for Health in Rwanda (Associate Professor)

Celestin Twizere is an Associate Professor of Engineering of Biomedical Electronics, Electromagnetism and Telecommunication, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Rwanda. He holds a PhD in Engineering of Biomedical Electronics, Electromagnetism and Telecommunication since 2011. Since 2017, he is serving as the Director of the East Africa Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and e- Health (CEBE), part of the network of East Africa's Centers of Excellence for Skills and Tertiary Education. A key strategy of CEBE is to position itself to operate efficiently and effectively in an ecosystem of knowledge creation and transfer, academic and industry partnership, and delivery of technical services to achieve high- impact results in support of several key health sector initiatives, including medical equipment and devices, rehabilitation and mobility devices, and e-health system services. In addition, I'm a Senior Lecturer in the department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Rwanda. In the role of CEBE Director, he gained valuable experience in the management of funding from African Development Bank and the establishment of the related Regional Centre of Excellence. Currently, he is working on the establishment of the East African Community (EAC) Digital Health Network in Collaboration with the MoH in Rwanda and the East Africa Health Research Commission. 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. I believe that my leadership experience will allow me to efficiently accomplish my responsibilities for the proposed project. With 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, and e-mental healthcare architecture as an innovative solution to conventional treatment in Rwanda.