BBC Update on UIUC Education Projects with Njala University

As part of an initiative to further research projects in education and training at Njala University in Sierra Leone, a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign worked together with various faculty and staff at Njala during a recent trip. One of the members of this team, Dr. Jenny Amos, recently shared her involvement in advising two PhD students at Njala within the Computer Science (CS) department.

Although Dr. Amos does not currently reside in Sierra Leone, she advises her students through skype and in person during her annual trips to Njala. The students also have a local adviser, the current Dean of the Graduate College, as well to work with them on their studies. Having already earned a Master’s degree, the students are undergoing a highly structured 3-year PhD program during which they take steps toward their project of starting a new management systems track in CS, specifically Healthcare Systems. These students are working on designing a platform of electronic medical records to help inform the healthcare system there. Through the guidance of an international interdisciplinary committee, these students will design and launch this new track and ideally manage it after graduation.

The attached radio broadcast shares details of their projects, as well as those of other PhD students at Njala. We are very excited to share this radio broadcast of their recent progress with the Global Health community.