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Virtual Networking Exchange
3rd of May 2023

Recorded sessions

AI & Healthcare - 1

  • Palindrome Data
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Palindrome Data is a South African for-profit organisation with a desire to apply private sector data science innovations to the public health sector. Specifically, we develop predictive models and tools for HIV and other health programs to amplify patient outcomes, program efficiency and cost effectiveness. Our tools have been piloted and validated in South Africa and Nigeria, and we're looking to support other African countries. We partner with local health programs and organisations in a country and support them through the implementation process to ensure scalability and skills transfer. We believe our tools can contribute to shifting health services from reactive to proactive, empower health workers with real-time data insights for decision-making and time management and guide personalised care for patients.

    Link to materials:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_0HyyrCASs

AI & Healthcare - 2

  • Vula
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Vula runs software that connects health workers to get patients to the right healthcare. Operational since 2014 there are over 30,000 health workers on the system and it is used by health workers to connect to over 50 different specialties to get advice and make referrals. Over 1 million patients have benefitted to date. The wealth of digitised information is now being utilised for machine learning and for the development of AI services to further help the health workers using Vula.

    Link to materials:

  • Zuri Health
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Zuri Health is a Pan-African health tech company providing universally accessible healthcare experience via a Mobile App, website and an AI-powered chatbot Vera, giving users access to pharmacy, labs & diagnostics, telemedicine and first level medical consultations via SMS to take care of people without smartphones and those living in the rural and underserved areas.

    Link to materials:

  • Rhino Health
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Rhino Health is a platform that supports data science research and AI development through Edge Compute and Federated Learning - thus, insights can be generated and algorithms can be developed/validated on patient data that never leaves the protective firewall of hospitals/institutions. The platform can link data from diverse entities (e.g. institutions, industry partners, etc.) and equip them with a feature-rich MLOps tool that allows for multi-institutional, privacy-preserving data science including the training and validation of AI algorithms. The platform takes care of IT networking, encryption, permissions-management and logging, which makes it highly scalable, and well suited to fuel several distributed data science projects over time, without the need for rebuilding infrastructure. Rhino Health has already been adopted by 15+ leading AMCs around the world (e.g., MGH, University of Cambridge, Lahey Hospital, Dana-Farber) and is growing rapidly.

    Link to materials:

    1) Overview of the Rhino Health Platform: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1P82zmV5FUjw8ulJJi2ehu73NRhIGcIS…
    2) Nature Medicine paper published by Ittai Dayan (Rhino Health co-founder & CEO), the landmark federated learning in healthcare study (20 institutions worldwide): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01506-3
    3) News of our collaboration with ACR, where we have accelerated their AI capabilities and enabled distributed registries: https://www.accesswire.com/728071/Rhino-Health-and-the-American-College…
    4) News of our collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and leading cancer centers on early detection of pancreatic cancer: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/11/23/2339864/0/en/EDRN…
    5) Multi-center validation of a brain aneurysm detection model using Rhino Health Platform: https://jnis.bmj.com/content/14/Suppl_1/A134

Capacity and Training

  • Building Medical Research in Africa
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    BMR Africa is an association of Young cameroonian medical doctors and statisticians who decide to combine their efforts within a structure whose global vision is the creation of an adequate framework in which the current or future health professional can acquire the fundamental notions of health research and medical statistics.

    Link to materials:

Consulting Services

  • Quantium Health South Africa
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Quantium Health is a global data science consultancy that specialises in health data analytics. We help our clients including pharma, medtech, hospitals and government health departments to analyse and gain insights from big data. Our skillsets include building analytics platforms, using predictive machine learning models, real world outcome studies and market intelligence. We also are the exclusive data partner to Discovery Health, South Africa's largest private health insurance and access anonymized patient data to build in depth patient journeys and health outcomes research

    Link to materials:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WTq6s--KRrvDzDKT5AvbvdKgOcQTCsxz/view?…

  • Fathom Data
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Exegetic Analytics Pty LTD (trading as Fathom Data) was established in 2007 and has been fully operational since 2017. We're based in South Africa, but engage with clients everywhere and anywhere. We offer end-to-end Data Science consulting and training service, as well as technical support to assist with workflow or infrastructure deliverables. We believe that making data meaningful is not just about offering robust thinking and outstanding insights. It's also about providing solutions that are pragmatic and easy to understand - brilliantly visualised, and in plain English. Our team consists of experienced Data Scientists who have worked in both industry and academia. We use our time strategically to deliver the most impactful and time-efficient solutions, and we have the necessary experience and capacity to provide training across a wide range of data science topics.

    Link to materials:

    https://gitlab.com/biancapeterson/ds-i_africa/-/blob/main/Fathom_DS-I_A…

Data Policy

  • CODATA International Data Policy Committee & EOSC-Future / RDA Ambassador for Ethics & Law
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    The CODATA International Data Policy Committee (IDPC) is the key instrument by which CODATA pursues its mission of promoting effective and appropriate policies for Open Science and FAIR data. A subsidiary task is to support the other strategic objectives of CODATA.

    Link to materials:

    https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/15UYk-4clA7ZpXshTehAN6NWi72Ef9xn…

  • World Health Organisation Health Data Collaborative
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    The Health Data Collaborative brings together a network of over 220 partner organizations with more than 800 members from seven different constituencies. Our mission is to provide a collaborative platform that aligns technical, financial and political resources with country owned strategies for using data to improve health outcomes – with a specific focus on SDG targets and communities that are left behind.

    Link to materials:

Global Networks

  • Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI)
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    The Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (or OHDSI, pronounced "Odyssey") program is a multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary collaborative to bring out the value of health data through large-scale analytics. All our solutions are open-source. OHDSI has established an international network of researchers and observational health databases with a central coordinating center housed at Columbia University.

    Link to materials:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGdqGOQNkuM
    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/fe1q60qhuteizi6/AADl9byhd34hpWGKzZ4dcqkZa?dl…

  • International Digital Health and AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR)
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    The International Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Research Collaborative (I-DAIR) is an independent global platform based in Geneva with the mission of enabling and improving access to inclusive, impactful, and responsible research into digital health and artificial intelligence for health.

    Link to materials:

Health Policy

  • African Population and Health Research Center
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    The African Population and Health Research Center is Africa's premier research institution and think tank, generating evidence to drive policy action to improve the health and well-being of African people. APHRC operates under four main departments

    Link to materials:

  • Economic Policy Research Network-EPRN Rwanda
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    EPRN is a research and capacity building member based organisation with the mandate of providing evidence for policy making.

    Link to materials:

    https://www.eprnrwanda.org/?page=Profile

Innovation Support

  • Tanzania Data Lab (dLab) / University of Dar es salaam
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    Tanzania Data Lab (dLab) is a centre of excellence for data science and data-driven innovation that brings together critical components of the data ecosystem, harnessing the potential of the data revolution and the 4th industrial era for sustainable development in Tanzania and Africa. dLab is a registered Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) under the Non-Governmental Act of 2002 in the United Republic of Tanzania and has a long-standing history of producing state of the art data science solutions for the private and public sectors. dLab envisions "Africa where data is frequently and effectively used to inform policy and decision making at all levels". dLab's mission is "To strengthen data ecosystems and data usage in innovation, policy, and decision making on health, economic growth, and gender in Tanzania and Africa". dLab is hosted by the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) at the College of Information and Communication Technologies (CoICT) and has an MoU with the University of Dar es Salaam, and the University of Virginia on collaboration in research, consultancy and training on data science. dLab also works closely with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania through the MoU with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to strengthen the national data ecosystem. Over the years dLab has developed over 240 data science products and services, supported 53 data-driven innovations through 5 innovation challenges, reached over 1,000 organizations and trained over 5,500 people, and generated over 2.4 million community data points from community engagement activities.

    Link to materials:

    https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GEmXJHkvc-WBM0DVT_uAVn4HwMNZYb2…

  • Villgro Africa
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    Villgro Africa is an incubator and impact investor supporting emerging healthcare businesses in Africa. We offer emerging companies a personalised incubation experience to help effectively scale ideas and navigate the African healthcare startup ecosystem.

    Link to materials:

  • MBOALAB
    Group: Network/Association/NGO

    Mboalab is an open and collaborative space located in Yaoundé, Cameroon. It is a laboratory for social innovation, community education, collaboration and mediation at the service of the common good. Operating as a research and applied Center for Open Science and Citizen Science, Mboalab was officially opened in December 2017, with the objective to catalyze sustainable local development and improve people's living conditions through open science. Our main mission is to make biotechnology research and tools more accessible to laboratories in Cameroon and Africa. There is an important need for these communities to contribute to scientific research and projects that target local health issues. As a result of growth, on June 27th 2022, Mboalab Biotech is our new organization name.

    Link to materials:

    https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7879392

Medical Technology

  • Histofi, Inc.
    Group: Technology/Tool/Software Provider

    Histofi is a MedTech platform leverages advanced AI and machine learning technologies to provide advanced cancer diagnostics and decision support resources for healthcare providers in developing countries. The platform helps healthcare providers in underserved communities to create and deliver data-driven personalized cancer care to their patients, regardless of their location.

    Link to materials:

    https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dpJI2cGRuAi4eYMAMaJv4baaEkzDFcB…

Research Funding

  • Millennium Challenge Corporation
    Group: Research Funder

    The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S. Government agency spurring economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries with a demonstrated commitment to just and democratic governance, economic freedom, and investing in their citizens.

    Link to materials:

  • Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
    Group: Research Funder

    The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society's toughest challenges - from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our local communities. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone.

    Link to materials:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z3nMLREHttzTm6rl5sv2-qmpzlzYBG4_/view?…