Georgina Badu-Gyan

Position before the programme:Data Manager
Current position at the Dodowa Health Research Centre, Ghana:Data Manager and Coordinator
Student years atWits University: 2012-2013
Host HDSS centre for the field attachment: Africa Centre, South Africa

Georgina says: “The MSc. Programme is well organised with various comprehensive modules which include skills in epidemiology, biostatistics, demography, protocol development, research ethics, Principles and operation of relational databases etc. with a focus on population based research.

The MSc Programme has enabled me to acquire knowledge and skills to identify research gaps; design, conduct and analyse relevant public health problems to identify health needs of a population.

The six months internship at a DSS site which is part of the 18 months training was the mostbeneficial aspect for me because it made me apply all that I learnt in the lecture room and also acquired lots of knowledge fromsenior scientists.

I had the opportunity to do my internship with the Africa Centre for Health and Population Study in KwaZulu Natal; South Africa for my research project. During my stay, I was able to apply the biostatistics, operation of relational databasesand DSS Data Management Systems I learnt in class to analyse my data. I also learnt and exchanged ideas with senior scientists who really impacted a lot of knowledgeand skills to me.”

Georgina submitted an abstract from her MSc. research project to the 12th INDEPTH Scientific Conference (ISC) held in South Africa in 2013 which was accepted and at the end of the conference she was awarded the ISC Young Scientist Award 2013.

According to her, she had good comments from reviewers and there is a draft manuscript which will be ready for publication soon. “I am very grateful to INDEPTH Network for the scholarship,” she said. ”