Our guest today is Priscilla Kasembo, the lead research pharmacist for Global Health Uganda.
Global Health Uganda (GHU) is a multidisciplinary research collaboration that serves as a leading center for child health, neurodevelopment, and intervention research in Uganda.
GHU was formed by Ugandan and American health scientists from Makerere University, the University of Minnesota, and Michigan State University to provide a collaborative platform with the necessary infrastructure to conduct scientific research on pediatric patients. The unit has attracted prominent researchers worldwide, with funding from many different sources, including the NIH and philanthropic organizations.
Priscilla, as the head of the pharmacy unit, plays a crucial role in supplying drugs for the trials, demonstrating her leadership and expertise in the field.
In this podcast, Priscilla shares her passion for research and the operational aspects of the unit. She also sheds light on how the trials she conducts influence health policy and the clinical care of patients in Uganda, underscoring the importance of her work.
Priscilla received her training from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at Makerere University. I am continually impressed by the quality and research of their graduates. Her master's project involved conducting a pharmacovigilance study, in which she documented and compared reported adverse drug reactions of Uganda's first-line antiretroviral therapy generic formulations. She demonstrated differences in the severity and frequency of adverse drug reactions among different generics.
Priscilla is a knowledgeable and engaging speaker, and I hope you enjoy this podcast installment.
We trust you’ll find this Velocity Made Good podcast episode insightful. We encourage you to explore the related links below for more information. Don't forget to subscribe to the Velocity Made Good substack for updates on upcoming essays and podcasts. Your active participation is what makes this community thrive.
Finally, I would love your feedback and suggestions on the format of the Velocity Made Good podcast and thoughts on potential future guests – as together we chart a course toward better global health.
Related Links:
Timestamps:
1:00 Introduction and background
3:50 Background on Global Health Uganda
5:15 Sources of funding for trials
6:00 Ongoing clinical trials and the NOHARM study
9:20 Patient recruitment and participation
10:25 Motivation to be a scientist
11:10 Major challenges
12:20 Impact on health policy
13:20 The need for training opportunities in research and clinical care
14:05 Future role of pharmacists in research
15:00 The growing demand for research services in Uganda
17:10 Accessing the Global Health Uganda platform
17:55 Final thoughts and wrap-up
Acknowledgements:
We gratefully acknowledge Joe Brancato's generosity in allowing us to use his original composition of Extraordinary People as music for the podcast.
Share this post