VIGH core faculty member Martin Were, M.D., M.S., associate professor of Biomedical Informatics and Medicine, was recently awarded a cooperative agreement from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to establish the Higher Education Partnership for Innovation and Sustainable Biomedical Informatics Capacity in Kenya (PISBIC Kenya).
PISBIC Kenya focuses on building workforce capacity; building evidence about the impact, costs, and benefits of health informatics systems; and producing locally responsive digital health solutions.
The program is a partnership between Moi University's Institute of Biomedical Informatics and Aga Khan University in Kenya and Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Purdue University in the United States. Dr. Were and his team will pursue the project goals to further the use of digital health technologies in order to improve healthcare quality, patient and population health outcomes, and data-driven decision-making to improve healthcare delivery systems.
This program is one of four projects under the Accelerating Local Potential Program umbrella to help propel "higher education institutions in low- and middle-income countries to become global leaders in scientific education and research, and to increase their presence as a source of knowledge and innovation for local government officials, policy makers, and other development actors."
PISBIC Kenya is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the world's premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID's work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity, demonstrates American generosity, and promotes a path to recipient self-reliance and resilience. For more information, visit www.usaid.gov.