Jason Nakaluudhe

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Namibia

Jason Nakaluudhe completed his undergraduate in Statistics and Mathematics in 2017 and his Master of Science in Biostatistics in 2019 at University of Namibia (UNAM). Growing up at the Northern part of Namibia. His Master’s project focused on “A Copula Approach to Sample Selection of Treatment Adherence and Viral Suppression”. He has presented different papers on HIV at different local and international conferences. He has submitted various manuscripts for publication. His research interests are in Copula Models, Survival Analysis, Longitudinal Studies and Statistical Modelling of Tropical Diseases. He was one of the first Namibian to benefit from SSACAB DELTA Africa. Jason has worked as Statistician at National Council for Higher Education (NCHE). He is currently unemployed. Jason would like to continue his career in the field of Biostatistics.

Supervisor(s):

• Prof. Lawrence Kazembe

Simon Pombili Kashihalwa

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Namibia(UNAM), Namibia

Simon Kashihalwa completed his undergraduate in Economics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics and Honours in Applied Statistics at Namibia University of Science and Technology. Simon completed his MSc in Biostatistics at University of Namibia.

Simon is from Oshana region, northern part of the country. Growing up in Namibia, he was exposed to the devastation that HIV/AIDS has caused and felt that he was positioned to conduct some research on HIV/AIDS. His Honours project focused on “Identifying risk factors for survival time of adult HIV Patient on ART using Proportional Hazard Model. His master thesis focused on Modelling progression of HIV/AIDS disease using homogenous semi-Markov processes. Simon has presented different papers on HIV at local and international conferences. His research interests are in Survival analysis, Modelling diseases progression and longitudinal studies

Supervisor(s):

• DR Lilian Pazvakawambwa, PhD

Ronald Fisa

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia.

Ronald Fisa completed his undergraduate degree in mathematics and statistics at the University of Zambia and he recently (2018) completed his master of science degree in Medical statistics at the University of Zambia in the school of public health. Currently, he is a Staff Development fellow at the University of Zambia in the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Ronald is interested in Road Traffic Accidents and Injuries due to the increased number of people dying and being injured on the roads. For his master’s project, he was Modelling Deaths Associated with Road Traffic Accidents and other Factors on Great North Road in Zambia between the years 2010 and 2016 Using Poisson Models. Currently he is working on a scoping review in which systematic review studies that involve interventions to reduce on Road Traffic Accidents/injuries are considered.

Ronald would like to continue his career in the field of injuries unintentional injuries such as Road Traffic Accidents, burns, falls, poisoning and possibly extend this to other intentional injuries such as and interpersonal violence which include among others homicide, sexual assault.

Supervisor(s):

• Professor Patrick Musonda, PhD.

Natuhamya Charles

Trainee Type:

Master of Biostatistics

Associated Institution:

Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

Natuhamya Charles studied Bachelor of Statistics during his undergraduate programme at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Coming from a background where under 5 mortality is so high with Malaria being one of the leading causes of ill health and deaths especially in children, he decided to enroll for a Master in Biostatistics to use statistical analysis in health research to contribute to informed decisions that can curb down Malaria incidence.

Charles is so passionate about data analysis and research especially in the health sector. He would like to continue his career in the field of research especially in data analysis.

Supervisor(s):

• Prof Nazarius Mbona Tumwesigye

Jeolous Malamula Nyasulu

Trainee Type:

Master of Sciences in Biostatistics

Associated Institution:

University of Nairobi, Kenya. KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya

Jealous Malamula Nyasulu completed his undergraduate in Bachelor of Education(Secondary) majoring Mathematics and Physics at Domasi College of Education and he also holds Diploma in Education in the same field of Mathematics and Physics. He is studying Master of Sciences in Biostatistics at University of Malawi-Chancellor College.

He was exposed in the assessment of scientific skills in students through the practical work, he also has vast experience in data collection and entry using different statistical packages like R, STATA, SPSS, CSpro. His Masters project will focus on planning, monitoring and evaluation using different statistical packages

Jeolous want to continue his career in the field of Monitoring and Evaluation.

Lineekela Gabriel

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Namibia

Lineekela Gabriel completed her undergraduate studies in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, and Honours in Applied Statistics at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.

Her Master’s project is focused on modeling the dynamics of viral load in patients on Antiretroviral therapy (ART) as adherence to medication changes over time. Lineekela would like to continue her career in the field of Biostatistics.

Supervisor(s):

• Prof Lawrence Kazembe

Sesilia Rauha Ndeutalala Kapenda

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Namibia (UNAM), Namibia

Sesilia Rauha Ndeutalala Kapenda completed her undergraduate Applied Mathematics and Statistics: Economics Option degree at the Polytechnic of Namibia and her Honours in Applied Statistics at the Namibia University of Science and Technology in Namibia. Sesilia also completed an Advanced Diploma in Secondary Education as she is passionate about working with adolescents. Sesilia is currently enrolled for her M.Sc in Biostatistics with the University of Namibia.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr Lilian Pazvakawambwa

Ummi Abdul

Trainee Type:

MSc

Associated Institution:

Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), Tanzania

Ummi is a Biostatistician and Epidemiologist currently working with the Malaria clinical trial unit under the Interventions and Clinical Trials Department at IHI. She joined IHI in 2012. She holds a BA (with Hon) in Geography and Statistics from University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2008-2011) and MSc in Epidemiology and Applied Biostatistics from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University Collage, Tanzania (2016-2018). During her second year of MSc, She received one year fellowship from DELTAS Africa Sub-Saharan Africa Consortium for Advanced Biostatistics-SSACAB.

Ummi has gained a huge experience in study design, develop statistical analysis plan, carry out data analysis and data management. Also she worked on establishment of hematological and biochemistry normal range values for children for vaccine trial. Her researches of interests include Epidemiology of communicable, non communicable disease and Neglected Tropical Diseases. As part of her MSc research work, she worked with PAMVERC in one of the survey which aimed to determine the effectiveness of the novel LLIN (PBO LLIN) on prevalence of malaria among children in a cluster randomized trial in Muleba-Tanzania.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr. Natacha Protopopoff PhD
• Co-Supervisor: Dr. Jenny Renju PhD

Kamunkhwala Gausi

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Malawi Chancellor College, Malawi

Kamunkhwala obtained her BSc in Statistics and Mathematics from the University of Malawi, Chancellor College in 2013. She was awarded a DELTAS Africa SSACAB Bio-Statistics scholarship in 2016 to support her Masters in Bio-Statistics studies at Chancellor College (2016-2017). Kamunkhwala was granted a one-year Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust MSc Internship (2016-2017). Her MSc thesis focused on the use of pharmacology and statistical modeling techniques to optimize malaria case-management and dosing regimens. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her Ph.D. work focus on applying nonlinear mixed-effects modeling to characterize and overcome drug-drug interactions between antiretroviral and anti-tubercular treatment. The results of the analysis will inform dose optimization for TB/HIV treatment, and recommendations might affect clinical practice and ultimately treatment guidelines and policies. Therefore, in the long run, reducing costs incurred in the healthcare systems and adverse events caused by drug-drug interaction. Her interest is to apply statistical modeling and medical knowledge to improve delivery of services in the health sector and fight against high burden poverty related diseases.

Supervisor(s):

• Lawrence Kazembe
• Eva Maria Hodel

Mwai Wambui

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of the Witwatersrand

Mwai, a biostatistician and currently a PhD student working on data science of high-throughput proteomic data and epidemiology of malaria immunity. My Bachelor’s degree from JKUAT was in Mathematics and Computer science with a specialization in statistics. Thereafter, I got a MSc Biostatistics degree from University of the Witwatersrand with a focus on Bayesian Spatial-Temporal models. I build computational tools that make data analysis easier, faster, and more fun.

Currently, I am working on analytical frameworks for studies of correlates of protection against Plasmodium falciparum with a main interest in systems biology approach focusing on case definition approaches and identifying correlates of protection using more robust statistical approaches. Additionally, with others, we teach Introduction to Statistical Methods for health research using R and RStudio https://github.com/Keniajin/PwaniR_Training_2015

Supervisor(s):

• Eustasius Musenge

Jessie Khaki

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Malawi, College of Medicine

Jessie Khaki holds an undergraduate degree in Statistics and Mathematics from Chancellor College, a constituent of the University of Malawi (UNIMA). She also completed her Master of Science degree in Biostatistics at Chancellor College in 2018. Her master’s thesis work, which was supervised by Professor Samuel Manda, revolved around comparing the efficiency of multilevel logistic regression and non-parametric models with an application to under-five mortality data from the 2015-2016 Malawi Demographic and Health Survey. Jessie is currently working as a Lecturer in Biostatistics at College of Medicine, another constituency of UNIMA; and also as a pre-doctoral intern at Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme. As part of her work at COM, Jessie delivers biostatistics lectures, co-facilitates statistical training workshops, and provides statistical advice and consultation to undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and projects managed by senior faculty. Her internship research focuses on spatiotemporal trends of confirmed typhoid fever in Blantyre district in Malawi. Jessie’s research interests are in modeling maternal health, child health and infectious diseases using time to event analysis, longitudinal data analysis, Bayesian spatiotemporal analysis and dynamic mathematical models.

Jessie is presently serving as the Deputy Editor for the Malawi Medical Journal, the General Secretary for the Statistical Association of Malawi and the Media Director for the Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (GISTEAM) network.

Supervisor(s):

• Professor Samuel Manda, PhD

Mpho N. Pitso

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

Wits University (School of public Health), Gauteng, South Africa

Mpho Pitso completed both her undergraduate BComm (Statistics) BComm Honours in Statistics at the University of the Free State. She worked as a Research Assistant at the same institution in the division of Center for Teaching and Learning. In 2016 She worked for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) where she served as a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. She is currently doing her MSC Epidemiology (Biostatistics) at the University of Witwatersrand.

Mathias Duncan Ngwira

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Malawi-Chancellor College

Mathias Duncan Ngwira holds a Bachelor of Science Degree with a major in Statistics obtained from Chancellor College, University of Malawi. He enrolled in Masters in Biostatistics program in January, 2019. He joined the master program while working as the Research and Business Development Officer at CLAIM Limited. . Prior to joining CLAIM Limited, he worked for World Agroforestry centre and ICRISAT Malawi as a research assistant. He hopes to do his research in either Epidemiology or modeling of infectious diseases. He hopes to work with health related organizations so as to fulfil his ambitions as he continues doing his course work.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr. Jupiter Simbeye, PhD

Sandile Ndabezitha

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Sandile Ndabezitha did his undergraduate degree in Statistics and Economics from the University of Swaziland. He has vast experience in data collection, cleaning, analysis and reporting. He is interested in big data manipulation using Biostatistical methods and techniques and incorporating machine learning techniques, for health and health-related research

Phelix Onyango Ojwang

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

School of Mathematics ,University of Nairobi-Kenya,

I am a graduate from University of Nairobi-Kenya with BSc. Statistics and currently in my final year of MSc Biometry-University of Nairobi under Deltas SSACAB Africa Scholarship, which is estimated to end by September 2019. I benefited a lot from my bachelor’s degree and on my current postgraduate studies at the University of Nairobi working as graduate research analyst and programmer in the research firms and as well graduate assistance at the host University. I am privileged to have gone through several research workshops on survival analysis course (Universiteit Utretch and University of Nairobi), longitudinal studies (University of Nairobi and LSHTM) and mixed models course analysis (Universiteit Utretch) using statistical software such as R and SPSS. These experiences have given me a firm foundation and boosted my understanding in theory and practical bit of biostatistics and its applications. I have keen interest in the field of biostatistics especially on the area of clinical trial studies. I am proficient in R, SAS, STATA, SPSS and Advance Excel.

My goal: is to support an interdisciplinary research team in an analytic capacity where I am intellectually challenged, and I can utilize my academic qualifications and field experience. Working with honesty and dedication as an integral part of a professional enterprise, I wish to fully apply my skills by contributing to evaluation of project and research studies

Supervisor(s):

• Dr. Nelson Onyango Owuor

Steven Wambua

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Nairobi/KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme

Steven holds a Bsc. Economics and Statistics and a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods (IDeAL studentship). He is currently in his final year at the University of Nairobi pursuing a masters in Biometry (SSACAB studentship). He is currently studying on handling missing values and multiple response predictive modelling using machine learning algorithms specifically Random Forests to establish key determinants a recently developed tool in measuring quality of care for his masters training. He is certified in statistical packages; R, Stata, SPSS and GRETL. Steven has managed to accrue nearly three years of work experience in data management and analysis. His recent role was a Data management assistant at the African Academy of Sciences where he was involved in creating databases and mining data for analysis. He has previously worked for KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kilifi, where he studied the effect of previous malaria episodes on the risk of iron deficiency and involved in cleaning longitudinal data and carrying out logistic regression, mapping, cox-regression and Instrumental variable analysis models using R and Stata. Steven has also worked for Compassion international as a research assistant in a baseline survey to study child development in a rural setting where he designed questionnaires, data collection, data entry and analysis. Steven has particular interests in modelling genetic data and health research processes and analysis aimed at handling missing values in pediatric routine data. He also consults on data mining specifically developing programs for text mining and web scripting for database development and management in R and Python.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr. Nelson Owuor, University of Nairobi
• Dr. Sam Aketch, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme

Mentor(s):

• Susan Gachau, KEMRI – Wellcome Trust Research Programme

Mary Pomaa Agyekum

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Mrs. Mary Pomaa Agyekum (Mary Attaa-Pomaa) holds a BSc in Statistics and Computer Science from the University of Ghana. She has a nine-year work experience in health research specifically in the area of health and demographic surveillance. She has expertise in research project management, quantitative and qualitative data collection, data management, analysis and application of GIS in health research. Her area of interest is spatial analysis, infectious disease surveillance and monitoring.

Morelearnings Sibanda

Trainee Type:

Honours

Associated Institution:

University of Witwatersrand School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

Morelearnings Sibanda holds a BSc Honours degree in Applied Mathematics from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. The burden of infectious diseases in Africa has over the years drawn his interest towards infectious disease modelling and Bayesian inference.

Nobuhle Nokubonga Mchunu

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of KwaZulu-Natal , KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

I have an Honours and a Masters Degree in Statistics which I passed Cum Laude. The topic of my masters theses was “Modelling CD4 cell count and mortality on a cohort of patients initiated on HAART”. The main aim was to determine if the CD4 cell count predicts mortality. I analyse the data using SAS and R and advanced statistical models such as Joint Modelling for Longitudinal and Time to Event data. I am currently doing a masters fellowship at CAPRISA in Durban, where I have received extensive training on cleaning, manipulating and analysing big data using advanced statistical methods and packages such as SAS and R. Furthermore I am learning advanced SQL online. I pride myself on being creative when it comes to problem solving skills, and I have an ability to learn fast and be able to think analytically and logically. On top of this I have a reputation for excellence with an above average academic record. My supervisors are very satisfied with my work and they will be willing to recommend me, and I am confident that I can bring the same level of high performance to your organisation

Supervisor(s):

• Prof Henry Mwambi (University of KwaZulu-Natal)
• Dr Tarylee Reddy (South African Medical Research Council)

Smartson Ainomugisha

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

School of Public Health, Makerere University, Uganda

Smartson Ainomugisha completed his undergraduate degree in Economics and Statistics from Kyambogo University, Uganda. He graduated among the best with First Class Honours and was ranked among Uganda’s Top 13 brains (New Vision 21st February, 2016). He is passionate about health care costing and modeling to enhance effective allocation and utilization of health care resources. His Master’s project will be focused on the nexus between health care expenditure and health outcomes in Uganda, which is thought to be of interest not only to government but also development partners who have invested heavily in Uganda’s health care over the past decades. Smartson is a beneficiary of the SACCAB Scholarship and the President of Uganda’s pioneer class.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr Jospeh Kagaayi, PhD

Grieven P. Otieno

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg South Africa

Grieven has a Bachelor of science degree in Applied Statistics (With IT) from Maseno University, Kenya. He has been involved in data management and statistical analysis in various research studies in Kenya. He has a keen interest in Spatio-temporal analysis, Small Area Estimation, Bayesian inference and Vaccine Epidemiology.

Jeremot Masoambeta

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Malawi (UNIMA), Chancellor College and Domasi College of Education, Malawi

Jeremot Masoambeta completed his undergraduate in Statistics and Mathematics (BSc) at the University of Malawi, Chemistry and Mathematics (BEd) at Domasi College of Education. He also have a Diploma in Education (DipEduc) majored in mathematics and Chemistry from Domasi College of Education. Growing up in Malawi, he had an interest to assess the association of mobility of students in schools to the impact it has on performance of learners at National examinations. Additionally, he was also exposed to devastation of different water elements like, chlorine, magnesium, PH levels e.t.c and assessed if taped water around Zomba Urban had right standards for drinking as regarding to the contents of water elements present. The master’s project for Jeremot is yet to be identified as course work is in its initial stages.

Supervisor(s):

• Dr. Jupter Simbeye, PhD
• Dr. Devis Mweta, PhD

Lawrence Lubyayi

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, MRC/UVRI & LSHTM Uganda Research Unit, Entebbe, Uganda

Lawrence holds a bachelor’s degree in Statistics from Makerere University, Uganda and a master’s degree in Statistics specializing in Biostatistics from the University of Hasselt, Belgium. Lawrence has vast experience providing statistical support for the design and analysis of various interventional and observational studies, investigating epidemiological and immunological interactions between chronic, immune-modulating infections and infectious and non-communicable disease outcomes. His PhD project is focused on statistical modeling approaches for longitudinal multiple outcome data from immuno-epidemiological studies in Entebbe, Uganda. Lawrence desires to further develop his skills in various key areas including statistical expertise, scientific communication, research leadership, tutoring/supervision, scientific writing, peer reviewing, grant and policy writing.

Supervisor(s):

• Professor Jonathan Levin, MSc PhD
• Dr Emily L Webb, MMath MSc PhD
• Professor Alison Elliott, MD FRCP FAAS

Priscilla Kapombe

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

University of Zambia (UNZA), Lusaka, Zambia

Priscilla Kapombe completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Zambia. Her experience working in the Health sector made her privy to the fact that there is a wealth of medical information which is collected at various levels that is seldom used or understood for betterment of the Health of the General populace. This led to her interest in seeing a holistic health picture and to make a contribution in finding solutions that not only impact individual patients but entire populations. Her Master’s project sought to ascertain the effectiveness of Ciprofloxacin a Quinolone in comparison with Ceftriaxone a Cephalosporin, in treatment of Gonorrhea using Partial Proportional Odds Model; and to identify possible risk factors associated with drug resistance. Priscilla wishes to further broaden her knowledge in Bayesian Statistics as well as Big Data Science to equip her to further help reduce the burden of disease.

Supervisor(s):

• Professor Patrick Musonda
• Mrs Lungowe Sitali

Tshwaraganang Hope Modise

Trainee Type:

Masters

Associated Institution:

Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Tshwaraganang completed her BSc degree majoring in statistics and biology and Her Honours in statistics at Sefako Makgatho Health sciences University. Growing up she had passion for health sciences and When doing her undergraduate she found joy in statistics. Her passion for health science and statistics lead her to pursuing a career in Biostatistics where she gets to use her quantitative skills to help improve health issues in Africa. Her Master’s topic is The effect of cotrimoxazole prophylaxis on CD4 cell-count profiles in HIV-positive patients stabilized on anti-retroviral therapy. Tshwaraganang wants to continue her career in Biostatistics and study her PhD in Biostatistics.

Supervisor(s):

• Professor Jonathan Levin PhD
• Dr Bareng Aletta Nonyane PhD