Richard Ngari Mugo
Richard Mugo completed a Master of Science in Biostatistics in 2018. He is now a 1st year doctoral student in Biostatistics at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. He will be spending his second year at Brown University, Department of Biostatistics taking advanced course work and developing a thesis.
Since completing his Master’s degree, he had been working as a biostatistician at Moi/AMPATH.
Mugo has served as statistician and data manager for NIH-funded projects at AMPATH. He also works on several locally-funded projects. Mugo has served a peer mentor and trainer to several new MSc-level NAMBARI trainees.
Victor Omodi
Victor Omodi completed a masters degree in biostatistics in 2018. He returned to Kenya and was employed as a biostatistician at AMPATH in Eldoret until 2021, where he worked primarily on research projects funded by Rami Kantor (Brown, NAMBARI faculty), Winstone Nyandiko (Moi / AMPATH / NAMBARI), and Rachel Vreeman (Mt Sinai), and on which Dr. Hogan is a key collaborator.
He has moved to a new biostatistician position in Nairobi where he continues to provide biostatistical support to public health-related research in Kenya.
Evon Okidi
From 2015 to 2017, Evon Okidi worked as a research biostatistician at Moi / AMPATH and was mentored by Drs. Hogan and Mwangi. She enrolled in the PhD program in biostatistics at Brown in 2017, where she completed two years of coursework and served as a graduate TA and RA.
Although Okidi performed very well in classes, she did not pass the written qualifying exam in 2018 or 2019. Because she was not eligible to receive a second masters degree in biostatistics, she enrolled in the Data Science masters program in Fall 2019, where she had to take only two courses to fulfill the requirements for that degree. She received the Masters in Data Science in 2020.
At the time she received her degree, her student visa was about to expire and several international travel restrictions were in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has taken a position as a data scientist in Boston under Optional Practical Training allowed under the terms of her visa.
Allan Kimaina
Allan Kimaina received the Master of Science Thesis Award of Excellence in Biostatistics, 2019, title: Harnessing the power of machine learning methods for enhancing HIV care and treatment within resource limited settings.
Kimaina returned to Moi University in June, 2019 and began as working as a biostatistician for AMPATH in early 2020. Kimaina was selected as a Fogarty IeDEA mentee in 2019.
In the past year, he is completing data analysis to compare the performance of machine learning models when transferred from one HIV care program to another. His study examines the accuracy of predictions when algorithms are developed in one large population and applied to another in the same region. By the end of 2023, he plans to have successfully drafted a manuscript that we plan to publish after finalizing the details. Kimaina has served a peer mentor to new masters level NAMBARI trainees in 2021 and 2022.
Ben-Ronnie Mosong
Ben-Ronnie Mosong began the Masters in Biostatistics in 2019 and completed his degree in May, 2021. He returned to Kenya in the fall 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. He completed his coursework and thesis remotely. In 2021, he began a position as biostatistical in AMPATH with the ADAT Data Analysis Team. He returned to Kenya in late 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic and finished his coursework and thesis remotely.
He began a position as a biostatistician AMPATH with the AMPATH Data Analysis Team in 2021.
Alfred Keter, MSc
Alfred Keter started his training program in June, 2015. His research was focused on Statistical methods for missing data and causal inference.
He began his career as a biostatistician for AMPATH for eight years, before working at the National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP) in Kenya for two years.
Currently, Keter is a PhD student at Ghent University in Belgium, studying statistical methods to guide clinical decision-making in tuberculosis. He is affiliated to the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium as well as the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa.
Rophence Ojiambo
Rophence Ojiambo graduated in May 2023 with a Master of Science in Biostatistics. She studied under the mentorship of Joseph Hogan and Jon Steingrimsson. As part of her ScM thesis research, Rophence completed a project focused on the generalized findings from a randomized control trial, the Bridging Income Generation with Group Integrated Care (BIGPIC) study for cardiovascular risk reduction to a target population extracted from AMPATH electronic health records.
Ojiambo returned to Kenya and is currently working as a Biostatistician at AMPATH Kenya, under the Multiple Myeloma Cancer Program. Her responsibilities include conducting statistical analyses to interpret clinical data related to multiple myeloma patients. Additionally, she is involved in monitoring and evaluation efforts which involve implementing data quality control measures to uphold data integrity.
Amos Okutse
Amos Okutse graduated in May 2023 with a Master of Science in Biostatistics. He studied under the mentorship of Joseph Hogan, completing a thesis entitled “Machine Learning (ML) Methods for Bias Correction and Precision Optimization Using Covariate Adjustment in Randomized Trials with Missing Data.” His research sought to provide additional evidence-based guidance for the appropriate use of ML adjustment in randomized trials for optimal efficiency gains in treatment effects estimation even under uncertainty about the true outcome data generating mechanism when outcomes are observed or are missing.
For this work, Okutse received the Dean’s 2023 Master of Science Graduate Student Poster Award at Brown University’s annual Public Health Research Day poster competition. He was also the recipient of the Brown University Department of Biostatistics Master of Science Thesis Award of Excellence.
Okutse is continuing at Brown in the PhD in Biostatistics under continued NAMBARI support. He is in his first year.
Keviner Asigi
Keviner Asigi is a second-year Master of Science in Biostatistics student. She is expected to graduate in May, 2024, and has been studying under the mentorship of Joseph Hogan.
Her thesis investigates the effects of group medical visits and microfinance as interventions for reducing systolic blood pressure, with a focus on variables such as diet, physical activity, social network characteristics, and medication adherence as the mediating (in between) variables within the causal pathways. This research seeks to understand the underlying mechanisms that connect these variables and contribute to the observed causal relationships. Asigi’s research relies on data from the Bridging Income Generation with Group Integrated Care (BIGPIC) study.
Robert Mengich
Robert Mengich is a 1st year doctoral student in Biostatistics, at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. He will be spending his second year at Brown University in the Department of Biostatistics taking advanced course work and developing a thesis. He is studying under the mentorship of Ann Mwangi and aims to focus on HIV research.