Second cohort
Dr. Dereje Teferi Lemma
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Dereje received his PhD and Licentiate of Technology degrees in Electrical Engineering specializing in Computer Vision from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and his MSc degree in Information Science from Addis Ababa University. He is now Assistant Professor at the School of Information Science (SIS) of Addis Ababa University. He has more than 25 years of experience teaching, supervising MSc and PhD students, conducting research, and providing consulting services at the University.
Dr. Dereje is currently working as Head of the School of Information Science where the MSc in Data Science program is hosted. He teaches courses such as Machine Learning, Information Retrieval, Data Analytics, and Research Methodology. His research interest includes Computer Vision, Data Science, Machine Learning, Language Technology, Intelligent Systems, and Information Retrieval. He has published several articles in journals and conference proceedings. In addition, he has patented his work on Encoding and Reading Optical Machine-Readable Data Codes (US Patent No. US 8,757,490 B2).
He is currently leading the Data Warehouse Architecture for Health research group at the school. He is conducting research on implementing a data warehouse framework for the Ethiopian health sector and supervising public health data science students in the development of a predictive model for various health issues.
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Dereje received his PhD and Licentiate of Technology degrees in Electrical Engineering specializing in Computer Vision from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and his MSc degree in Information Science from Addis Ababa University. He is now Assistant Professor at the School of Information Science (SIS) of Addis Ababa University. He has more than 25 years of experience teaching, supervising MSc and PhD students, conducting research, and providing consulting services at the University.
Dr. Dereje is currently working as Head of the School of Information Science where the MSc in Data Science program is hosted. He teaches courses such as Machine Learning, Information Retrieval, Data Analytics, and Research Methodology. His research interest includes Computer Vision, Data Science, Machine Learning, Language Technology, Intelligent Systems, and Information Retrieval. He has published several articles in journals and conference proceedings. In addition, he has patented his work on Encoding and Reading Optical Machine-Readable Data Codes (US Patent No. US 8,757,490 B2).
He is currently leading the Data Warehouse Architecture for Health research group at the school. He is conducting research on implementing a data warehouse framework for the Ethiopian health sector and supervising public health data science students in the development of a predictive model for various health issues.
Ms. Selina Atwani Ochukut
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Selina Atwani Ochukut is a tutorial fellow at the University of Nairobi’s School of computing and informatics. She is currently a PhD candidate in Information Systems at the university of Nairobi’s Department of Computing and Informatics. Her research interests are in the application of technology in education and health. Her current research focuses on the development of adaptive instructional support module to manage e-learners’ cognitive load and motivation. She is also interested in data science and opening access to education for the under privileged. As a tutorial fellow, Selina is involved in teaching and supervising undergraduate and master’s students. She has supervised several undergraduate capstone projects and 5 masters-level project. Selina has also taught short courses in data science to diploma graduates.
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Selina Atwani Ochukut is a tutorial fellow at the University of Nairobi’s School of computing and informatics. She is currently a PhD candidate in Information Systems at the university of Nairobi’s Department of Computing and Informatics. Her research interests are in the application of technology in education and health. Her current research focuses on the development of adaptive instructional support module to manage e-learners’ cognitive load and motivation. She is also interested in data science and opening access to education for the under privileged. As a tutorial fellow, Selina is involved in teaching and supervising undergraduate and master’s students. She has supervised several undergraduate capstone projects and 5 masters-level project. Selina has also taught short courses in data science to diploma graduates.
Dr. Martha Yifiru Tachbelie
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Martha Yifiru Tachbelie is an Associate Professor at the School of Information Science of Addis Ababa University with more than 20 years of teaching and research experience at higher institutions. Martha received her PhD degree from Hamburg University, Germany in Computer Science and worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Informatics Laboratory of Grenoble, France. Her research interest includes application of AI and Machine Learning in different domain, including health, language modeling, automatic speech recognition, machine translation and other natural language processing applications to local and under-resourced languages.
She has worked on different nationally and internationally funded research projects. She received an unrestricted gift, Google faculty research award and Googler initiative award from Google Inc., George Forster fellowship for experienced researchers and return fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Lacuna fund from Meridian Institute, Grand Challenge Ethiopia award from Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), thematic research award from AAU and several research awards from the then Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. Martha authored and co-authored more than 30 publications (book chapters, journal articles and conference papers).
Martha works with the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute (EAII) on several projects. She was involved in the Smart Court System project, especially in the development of the court transcription system and in the development of multilingual speech to speech translation system. Currently, Martha is involved in a project that is aimed at the development of speech-to-speech translation system in the health domain.
She has served as the head of the School of Information Science and a board member of Debre Berhan University. She is also serving as a reviewer for various local and international workshops, conferences and journals. Moreover, she has worked as a chair of diversity and inclusion at the 2021 ACL-IJCNLP and ACL 2022 international conferences.
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Martha Yifiru Tachbelie is an Associate Professor at the School of Information Science of Addis Ababa University with more than 20 years of teaching and research experience at higher institutions. Martha received her PhD degree from Hamburg University, Germany in Computer Science and worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Informatics Laboratory of Grenoble, France. Her research interest includes application of AI and Machine Learning in different domain, including health, language modeling, automatic speech recognition, machine translation and other natural language processing applications to local and under-resourced languages.
She has worked on different nationally and internationally funded research projects. She received an unrestricted gift, Google faculty research award and Googler initiative award from Google Inc., George Forster fellowship for experienced researchers and return fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Lacuna fund from Meridian Institute, Grand Challenge Ethiopia award from Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), thematic research award from AAU and several research awards from the then Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. Martha authored and co-authored more than 30 publications (book chapters, journal articles and conference papers).
Martha works with the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute (EAII) on several projects. She was involved in the Smart Court System project, especially in the development of the court transcription system and in the development of multilingual speech to speech translation system. Currently, Martha is involved in a project that is aimed at the development of speech-to-speech translation system in the health domain.
She has served as the head of the School of Information Science and a board member of Debre Berhan University. She is also serving as a reviewer for various local and international workshops, conferences and journals. Moreover, she has worked as a chair of diversity and inclusion at the 2021 ACL-IJCNLP and ACL 2022 international conferences.
Dr. Davis Bundi Ntwiga
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Davis Bundi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nairobi, where he has dedicated his career to teaching, research, and mentorship. With a PhD in Mathematical Finance from the same institution and 15+ years of experience in academia, he has made significant contributions through supervising postgraduate students, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and won research grants. His research interests span financial inclusion, digital finance, development finance, gender, and now climate change. His work has influenced both academic discourse and policy, particularly in financial technology and its role in expanding access to financial services.
Dr. Bundi is a member of the African Finance and Economics Association and Actuarial Society of Kenya. Beyond research, he actively mentors students, spearheads coding clubs, and fosters collaborations within the academic and fintech communities. His dedication to education extends beyond the classroom, as he continuously engages in workshops, consultancy projects, and curriculum development. Passionate about lifelong learning, he remains at the forefront of leveraging mathematics and data science to solve real-world challenges.
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Davis Bundi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nairobi, where he has dedicated his career to teaching, research, and mentorship. With a PhD in Mathematical Finance from the same institution and 15+ years of experience in academia, he has made significant contributions through supervising postgraduate students, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, conference proceedings, and won research grants. His research interests span financial inclusion, digital finance, development finance, gender, and now climate change. His work has influenced both academic discourse and policy, particularly in financial technology and its role in expanding access to financial services.
Dr. Bundi is a member of the African Finance and Economics Association and Actuarial Society of Kenya. Beyond research, he actively mentors students, spearheads coding clubs, and fosters collaborations within the academic and fintech communities. His dedication to education extends beyond the classroom, as he continuously engages in workshops, consultancy projects, and curriculum development. Passionate about lifelong learning, he remains at the forefront of leveraging mathematics and data science to solve real-world challenges.
First cohort
Dr. Idah Orowe
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Orowe is Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics in the Department of Mathematics at UoN. Dr. Orowe has 15+ years of experience as a lecturer and researcher in Biostatistics. She teaches courses such as Epidemiology, Survival Data Analysis, Design of Clinical Trials, and Sample Survey, Inference, and Exploratory Data Analysis. She has supervised 30+ MSc students and is currently supervising 4 PhD students.
Dr. Orowe’s research centers on biostatistics, data mining, machine learning, and statistical computing. Her interests include modeling infectious diseases, multistate modeling, survival analysis, and regression analysis. Her primary research focus currently is modeling vertical transmission (mother to child) of infectious diseases using deterministic and stochastic models. She also conducts research that models demographic processes and the determinants of household economy, in the study of the HIV epidemic.
Dr. Orowe is a member of the International Biometry Society, the Kenya National Statistical Society (KNSS), the African Women in Mathematics Association, and the Eastern Africa Network for Women in Basic Sciences.
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Orowe is Senior Lecturer in Biostatistics in the Department of Mathematics at UoN. Dr. Orowe has 15+ years of experience as a lecturer and researcher in Biostatistics. She teaches courses such as Epidemiology, Survival Data Analysis, Design of Clinical Trials, and Sample Survey, Inference, and Exploratory Data Analysis. She has supervised 30+ MSc students and is currently supervising 4 PhD students.
Dr. Orowe’s research centers on biostatistics, data mining, machine learning, and statistical computing. Her interests include modeling infectious diseases, multistate modeling, survival analysis, and regression analysis. Her primary research focus currently is modeling vertical transmission (mother to child) of infectious diseases using deterministic and stochastic models. She also conducts research that models demographic processes and the determinants of household economy, in the study of the HIV epidemic.
Dr. Orowe is a member of the International Biometry Society, the Kenya National Statistical Society (KNSS), the African Women in Mathematics Association, and the Eastern Africa Network for Women in Basic Sciences.
Dr. Elisha Abade
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Abade is Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Informatics at UoN, where he teaches programming, computer security, and machine learning. He was part of the WIDE project in Japan, researching the Future Internet and Asia School over Internet. At UoN, he leads the Data Services Layer (DSL) implementation team for the USAID-funded HealthIT project, sustaining the utilization of health systems in Kenya. In this role, he led the implementation of a health data analytics and indicators visualization platform for Kenya’s Ministry of Health. The DSL platform integrates health data from multiple sources including the District Health Information System, Kenya Health Master Facility List, and Kenya Medical staff data from integrated Human Resource Information Systems, as well as drug and commodities supply data from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority. To implement DSL, Dr. Abade utilized machine learning algorithms to analyze and predict diverging and converging health factors, thereby supporting functions for decision-making and discovery of complex interlinkages in health determinants.
In addition to academic work, Dr. Abade works as a consultant in the areas of computer security, data analytics and visualization. He is co-founder and director of the Scala Institute of Advanced Computing and Digital Literacy. Dr. Abade has also worked in the domain of implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, mHealth applications and cybersecurity, and has been a lead consultant in developing Kenya National Standards and guidelines for implementation of mHealth applications.
APHREA-DST Co-I
University of Nairobi
Kenya
Dr. Abade is Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Informatics at UoN, where he teaches programming, computer security, and machine learning. He was part of the WIDE project in Japan, researching the Future Internet and Asia School over Internet. At UoN, he leads the Data Services Layer (DSL) implementation team for the USAID-funded HealthIT project, sustaining the utilization of health systems in Kenya. In this role, he led the implementation of a health data analytics and indicators visualization platform for Kenya’s Ministry of Health. The DSL platform integrates health data from multiple sources including the District Health Information System, Kenya Health Master Facility List, and Kenya Medical staff data from integrated Human Resource Information Systems, as well as drug and commodities supply data from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority. To implement DSL, Dr. Abade utilized machine learning algorithms to analyze and predict diverging and converging health factors, thereby supporting functions for decision-making and discovery of complex interlinkages in health determinants.
In addition to academic work, Dr. Abade works as a consultant in the areas of computer security, data analytics and visualization. He is co-founder and director of the Scala Institute of Advanced Computing and Digital Literacy. Dr. Abade has also worked in the domain of implementation of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, mHealth applications and cybersecurity, and has been a lead consultant in developing Kenya National Standards and guidelines for implementation of mHealth applications.
Dr. Wondwossen Mulugeta
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
With 17+ years of academic and administration experience at AAU’s School of Information Science, Dr. Mulugeta is Assistant Professor of Information Technology. He has also served AAU as an Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Informatics, and as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Natural and Computational Science.
Through teaching, advising, and research, Dr. Mulugeta has applied information science to health, education, agriculture, and the economy. While language technology and NLP for under-resourced Ethiopian languages has historically been his primary research focus, his engagement with APHREA-DST, and as an instructor-advisor to health informatics graduate students, has led towards a growing focus on public health data science.
Dr. Mulugeta is an independent consultant with JSI (John Snow, Inc. Research & Training Institute) on the Ethiopia Data Use Partnership at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. He contributed to data warehouse requirements, advised by policy leaders, practitioners, and partners on how data can best be captured, stored, integrated, and used for decision-making. Dr. Mulugeta has also developed data warehouse requirements focused on maternal and child health, revealing crucial insights into the need for data science analytics in the Ethiopian health sector. Dr. Mulugeta has engaged in research and consultancy with the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, working on a National Enterprise Architecture Development, an eGovernment Interoperability Framework, and a National Knowledge Repository.
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
With 17+ years of academic and administration experience at AAU’s School of Information Science, Dr. Mulugeta is Assistant Professor of Information Technology. He has also served AAU as an Assistant Dean in the Faculty of Informatics, and as Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs in the College of Natural and Computational Science.
Through teaching, advising, and research, Dr. Mulugeta has applied information science to health, education, agriculture, and the economy. While language technology and NLP for under-resourced Ethiopian languages has historically been his primary research focus, his engagement with APHREA-DST, and as an instructor-advisor to health informatics graduate students, has led towards a growing focus on public health data science.
Dr. Mulugeta is an independent consultant with JSI (John Snow, Inc. Research & Training Institute) on the Ethiopia Data Use Partnership at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health. He contributed to data warehouse requirements, advised by policy leaders, practitioners, and partners on how data can best be captured, stored, integrated, and used for decision-making. Dr. Mulugeta has also developed data warehouse requirements focused on maternal and child health, revealing crucial insights into the need for data science analytics in the Ethiopian health sector. Dr. Mulugeta has engaged in research and consultancy with the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, working on a National Enterprise Architecture Development, an eGovernment Interoperability Framework, and a National Knowledge Repository.
Dr. Getachew Hailemariam Mengesha
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Mengesha is Assistant Professor of Information Systems at AAU’s School of Information Science, and was Department Head from 2008-2009. His research focuses on information systems and public health in Ethiopia. His focus on data science in the healthcare system began as an MSc student at AAU in 1998, when he developed a Prototype Community Health Information Retrieval System for Jimma Zone. He later conducted his PhD dissertation on the adoption and institutionalization of information system innovations in healthcare.
Dr. Mengesha’s contributions to science include demonstrating how healthcare service inequalities resulting from socio-economic disparities can be bridged through the use of modern ICT approaches to telemedicine. After assessing the uptake of these technologies in developing contexts, he proposed a context-specific IT adoption and use model.
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Mengesha has executed 18+ consultancy projects in healthcare, business, and training related to HIV AIDS, reproductive health, and nutrition. Lessons learned inform his work on APHREA-DST, supporting meaningful contributions in the areas that matter most to the Ethiopian healthcare system. His research and education leadership springs from the conviction that data science can make tremendous contributions towards public health planning, policy formulation, and management in the African context, but timely capacity-building endeavors in public health data science such as APHREA-DST are imperative.
APHREA-DST Co-I
Addis Ababa University
Ethiopia
Dr. Mengesha is Assistant Professor of Information Systems at AAU’s School of Information Science, and was Department Head from 2008-2009. His research focuses on information systems and public health in Ethiopia. His focus on data science in the healthcare system began as an MSc student at AAU in 1998, when he developed a Prototype Community Health Information Retrieval System for Jimma Zone. He later conducted his PhD dissertation on the adoption and institutionalization of information system innovations in healthcare.
Dr. Mengesha’s contributions to science include demonstrating how healthcare service inequalities resulting from socio-economic disparities can be bridged through the use of modern ICT approaches to telemedicine. After assessing the uptake of these technologies in developing contexts, he proposed a context-specific IT adoption and use model.
Over the past 10 years, Dr. Mengesha has executed 18+ consultancy projects in healthcare, business, and training related to HIV AIDS, reproductive health, and nutrition. Lessons learned inform his work on APHREA-DST, supporting meaningful contributions in the areas that matter most to the Ethiopian healthcare system. His research and education leadership springs from the conviction that data science can make tremendous contributions towards public health planning, policy formulation, and management in the African context, but timely capacity-building endeavors in public health data science such as APHREA-DST are imperative.