The She-Data Science (SHEDS) Program was launched in 2024 at the African Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics with support from IGHS. It aims to empower Ugandan women to pursue education and careers in data science.
The program increases opportunity for women through courses, internships, and mentorship at both a Master’s and PhD level. Following a project-based learning model, fellows get hands-on experience in health data science, artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, machine learning, and natural language processing.
One goal of the program is to ensure more representative and inclusive data science and AI solutions by building a critical mass of women with the skills to shape them. Grace Kebirungi is the technical program coordinator for the SHE Data Science Project. When asked about the program, Grace said, “SHEDS builds a pipeline of women data scientists so that when solutions are being developed, especially those affecting women’s health and wellbeing, women are already there with the skills to contribute directly to the design and development, not only consulted once the product is built. That’s how you get solutions that truly reflect women’s needs.”
During the program, each fellow joins a thematic working group related to their interests. Thematic areas include antimicrobial resistance, malaria, and cancer. Beginning with an introductory session designed to bridge theory and practice, fellows are equipped with the context and tools to contribute to real-life projects.
Aside from training opportunities, there are two main features of this program that make it so successful. First, fellows are paired with mentors who have a similar academic focus. Second, tuition and living expenses for the fellows is covered by the program. The stipend allows students to focus on their education, rather than trying to balance work and school. This is especially important for women who may otherwise be expected to care for a family.
The program is offered to women from Uganda who are interested in learning bioinformatics and data science and have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, mathematics, or biology. So far, 46 fellows have completed or are still in the program. Graduates are working at public health institutions and national labs in Uganda.
Amaro Mary Salome started in the program as an intern, where she was introduced to human genomics and the Cancer working group. She is now an MSc fellow in Bioinformatics doing research in cervical cancer, the leading cause of cancer death among Ugandan women. Her research focuses on identifying Line-1 chimeric transcripts which could serve as biomarkers for early detection of cervical cancer in women.
“I am grateful for how far I have come. Every day brings something new to learn, and one of the most inspiring parts of this journey has been the community around me. Through the fellowship, I have had the opportunity to interact with women at various stages of their careers, from fellow students to PhD researchers and beyond. Seeing women operating at such high levels of scholarship has been deeply encouraging. It reminded me that it is possible, and it pushed me to keep going and to aim higher. I am truly thankful for that.”
Patricia Nabisubi is a PhD student and SHEDS Fellow studying bioinformatics and data-intensive sciences. Nabisubi spent time at IGHS in San Francisco and trained in mathematical modeling.
“The SHEDS fellowship has granted me the opportunity of formal training at the Proctor Foundation, UCSF; the precise skill my pre-fellowship work lacked, now central to my PhD… Through this fellowship, I have unified genomics, epidemiology, and modeling around antimicrobial resistance in Uganda. I initiated three AMR sub-studies focusing on: policy alignment, evolutionary timing of resistance, and predictive trend modeling.”
Kevin Cissy Nabukeera is an MSc Bioinformatics graduate and now works as an assistant structural biologist.
“The funding allowed me to clear my tuition, a major barrier, and freed me to focus entirely on completing my MSc and advancing my research. That focus paid off. My research led to an exciting discovery: a protein that is highly expressed in breast cancer tumors but absent in normal tissue. Strikingly, each unit increase in its expression is associated with an 11% increase in patient survival. Building on this, my team identified potential vaccine targets capable of triggering meaningful immune responses against breast cancer. In June 2026, I will travel to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle to validate these targets as part of developing a peptide cancer vaccine. Peptide vaccines represent one of the most exciting frontiers in cancer treatment, and this work puts me right at that cutting edge. It is a moment I could not have imagined when I first joined SHEDS.”
This March, the program started its third and potentially final year. In addition to continuing their fellowship program, they are also working on a mini-study to identify barriers and enablers to women pursuing data science. With their findings, they will publish a paper or policy brief to inform both the nation’s scientific establishment and the Uganda Ministry of Health.
The SHEDS team hopes that the program’s impact will help them secure additional funding. However, with uncertainty in funding, the team has created a self-sustaining cycle: as fellows graduate and become independent scientists, the hope is that they will write their own grants and include capacity-building components specifically for women. As PhD fellows graduate, they will continue to mentor other women and support advanced scientific data analysis for local research programs, particularly in cancer, antimicrobial resistance, and malaria.
“A more diverse workforce is more productive. We are already witnessing an improvement in the quality of our science owing to a higher representation of women in our research programs. For example, there is generally more attention to detail and improving organization within the working groups.” said Daudi Jjingo, PhD, MRes, director of the African Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data-Intensive Sciences (ACE).
This program is uplifting a generation of women scientists, researchers, and leaders who are dedicated to using data science to solve real-world health challenges.