2019 - 2020 POHER Scholars
POHER SCHOLARS 2019-2020
DR COMFORT ASANTE
Dr Asante is a medical doctor at Ndola Teaching Hospital. She graduated from Copperbelt University School of Medicine in 2019 – MBChB. She was the 2015 Best student award second year Copperbelt University School of Medicine. Her research experience includes being a research assistant for Amref health Africa working on several projects: a) Midterm Evaluation for Closing the Gap between Community and Formal Health Systems to Reduce Maternal Mortality in Ndola and Kitwe Districts of Copperbelt Province b. Assessment of adherence to guidelines, referral system and bottleneck of maternal and newborn care in Kitwe and Ndola health centers.
She was also the principle investigator (PI) on a study evaluating “ Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices on diarrhea prevention in children under the age the age of five: a cross sectional study in a peri urban center Zambia, Southern Africa”. As a POHER Scholar, the abstract was submitted and accepted for presentation at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2020. Due to COVID19 pandemic the DDW meeting has been cancelled, however her abstract will be available on the virtual DDW meeting (IDTu2012) on May, 2020 and published in Gastroenterology Journal.
DR JOHN MUYUTU
Dr John Muyutu is a Medical Doctor passionate about optimizing patient care and believes research can be used as a tool to accomplish that. He is an Intern Doctor at Livingstone Central Hospital. He holds a degree in medicine and surgery (MBCHB) from Copperbelt University, which he obtained in April 2020. His area of interest is anything that has to do with Internal Medicine.
During his time as a medical student at Copperbelt University, he was involved in various research activities. He was the Principal investigator of a research “Perception and attitude towards exclusive breastfeeding of postnatal HIV positive mothers at Chimwemwe clinic, Kitwe, Zambia”.
Furthermore, he was a research assistant of a research “Descriptive analysis of esophageal Cancer in Zambia” and he presented the abstract at the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer (AORTIC)”, November 2019 Maputo, Mozambique.
After completing his medical training, he briefly worked as a lecturer at the School of Health Sciences at Rockview University, Lusaka, Zambia. He taught Clinical Officer General (COG) anatomy and physiology as well as Fundamentals of Emergency Medicine. In addition, he mentors medical students.
DR NANCY KASONGO
Dr Nancy Kasongo graduated top of her class at the Copperbelt university school of medicine in Zambia in April 2020. She began her journey as a POHER scholar in August 2019. While in medical school, she received multiple awards including travel scholarships to the youth fellowship camp- South Korea and the Women Leaders in Global Health (WLGH) 2019.
She also received the international research elective MU-Zambia award- an award to spend 2-3 months at the university of Missouri (MU) school of medicine learning about research in 2017. Dr Kasongo has been actively involved in research, she served as co-chair of the first POHER-YES Zambia-CBUSOM Mentorship and medical research symposium. She also served as a research assistant for a project evaluating esophageal cancer in Zambia, a Co Principle Investigator (co-PI) on a study evaluating incidence of acute kidney injury in the emergency department at Ndola teaching hospital, Zambia and a PI on a study evaluating factors associated with cervical cancer at Kitwe teaching Hospital, Zambia.
Dr Kasongo has co-authored one manuscript accepted for publication in the Medical Journal of Zambia, she has presented at three conferences including the world congress of internal medicine 2018- Cape Town, African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer 2019- Maputo and WLGH 2019- Kigali.
AVIS ANYA NOWBUTH
Avis Anya Nowbuth is a 6th year medical student at Lusaka Apex Medical University in Zambia. She has a Master’s degree in Complementary Medicine from South Africa with a dissertation on the “Investigation of nanoparticles present in Biochemic Tissue Salt Ferrum phosphoricum 2X, 4X and 6X potencies” with a published article specifically discussing the Characteristic Techniques in Nanoparticle Analysis of Iron Phosphate. She presented her research at the Liga Medicorum Homoeopathica Internationalis (LMHI), World Congress of Homeoapthy; Annual Inter-Faculty Postgraduate Symposium: University of Johannesburg, Postgraduate School and Faculty of Health Sciences Postgraduate Symposium: University of Johannesburg, Postgraduate School. She is also currently contributing to research hosted at University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia.
Albeit being of the academic mindset, she is also a major contributor in society as she volunteers and hosts campaigns to for the betterment of society. She has successfully hosted campaigns such as the “back to school campaign” where she had a donation drive to give back to those who have less; and more recently “Covid-19 Food Campaigns” in which she and her family contribute, pack, sort and deliver food parcels to rural townships in Johannesburg, South Africa who are directly affected by the effect of lockdowns and curfews.
She is also involved in community development projects in Ngombe, Kalundu and Chilenje compounds in Lusaka, Zambia. She also volunteers at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) in South Africa which deals with mental health services for those who are in dire need.
She is quite ambitious in nature and thus has pursued avenues that are considered controversial. Health is something she has been passionate about from a very young age and being able to contribute to this emerging field by adding a focus on research specifically on Infectious Diseases within the fields of Pulmonology; and the use of nanoparticles as a potential contributor towards treatments of disease. She hopes to apply the knowledge from this opportunity to contribute and develop research projects and apply ideas to both Zambia and South Africa.
She still enjoys the simple things in life and finds solace in reading books, playing the piano, dancing and doing artwork. She has expressed her immense gratitude to Dr. Asombang, Dr Mazimba and Ms Uwase from UM for this great opportunity, and Professor Mwaba from LAMU for the permissions to attend.