Dr Emelda Okiro awarded Postdoctoral Fellowship

Dr Emelda Okiro of the Nairobi based Malaria and Public Health Epidemiology Group (MHEG) has been awarded a prestigious Post-doctoral Fellowship in Washington.

She will be based at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Washington, which is one of the leading global health research centres based at the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington and is renowned for its its work in generating high quality information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems.

The IHME Fellowship combines the academic rigor and programmatic components of global health to provide fellows with opportunities for self-directed research and interdisciplinary collaboration in health metrics. The Fellowship is slated to run for one year from September 2011 with the possibility of renewal for a second year upon mutual agreement.

An epidemiologist by training, Dr Okiro is well versed with in time-series analysis, its application to routine health data and its use in guiding national malaria programmes assessments of progress. During her time at Washington, Emelda intends to advance her research skill set by gaining exposure to more novel methods of evaluating disease trends and intervention impacts.

''I am at a stage of my career where I am learning many new techniques and approaches to modelling complex temporal data sets. Yet there are still areas in epidemiological analysis that am not skilled in that I feel have real importance to public health, '' says Emelda.

''This Fellowship will bridge this gap and exposure me to a new and advanced set of skills. It will broaden my international collaborative efforts and set the scene to begin to take on larger more complex health impact studies in Africa.''

Recognizing the shortage of qualified African researchers working in Africa, Dr Okiro is committed to continue working in Africa and the Malaria and Public Health Epidemiology Group (MHEG) after the fellowship.

"I have established an important niche in the MPHEG and MAP group-notably a direct link between intervention coverage and health impact. My interest fits perfectly with the history of the MPHEG and its future research modelling the potential impact of intervention expansion across Africa,'' she says.