Mastercard Foundation Scholar brings mission to improve livelihoods to U of T

Growing up in Uganda, Naturinda Emmanuel aspired to be a medical doctor and health leader. He wants to eliminate barriers to healthcare access for those in underserved, remote communities.

Naturinda Emmanuel is a new graduate student in the Master of Health Informatics program at IHPME. (Submitted photo)

Story originally appeared in Black Research Network (BRN) by Tina Adamopoulos

It’s a goal he is determined to accomplish to honour his mom’s memory. He believes that if his family had stronger access to healthcare delivery, he’d still have his mom with him today. 

“I always wanted to address different healthcare issues in my country; that is my motivation,” says Naturinda, a graduate student focused on intelligent medicine and electronic medical records in the Master of Health Informatics (MHI) program at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME). 

“I want to gain the skills and expertise to strengthen healthcare systems to ensure that those who need care can receive it.”

Naturinda joins IHPME with help from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative (AHEHC). The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is a global education initiative that provides the next generation of African leaders who are dedicated to social transformation access to higher education. The AHEHC, a partnership between U of T, the Mastercard Foundation and leading African universities, was established in 2022 to drive primary healthcare workforce education, entrepreneurship and innovation across Africa. 

This is Naturinda’s second time studying abroad with the Mastercard Foundation. He became the first in his family to do so when he was awarded a scholarship to pursue an undergraduate degree in laboratory medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

He returned home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to volunteer in the clinical microbiology and immunology departments at a local hospital. Experiencing the new pressures burdened on hospitals, he thought about how to improve systems, namely the continued use of paper records. 

Medical records are the building blocks for developing efficient and effective intelligent medicine models. Intelligent medicine refers to the use of machine learning models to process medical data and reduce errors in patient care. Additionally, large datasets allow medical professionals to spot health patterns – say, a pandemic or epidemic – to better prepare for public health threats. 

But in low-to-middle-income countries, limited access to technology and absence of standardized data formats are barriers to digitizing medical data. The use of paper records also causes delays in retrieving laboratory results and makes it difficult to understand patient medical history efficiently.

“The digitization of medical records is essential for developing and training predictive models,” Naturinda says. “Unique electronic datasets from these communities provide the more accurate and reliable information needed to account for unique socio-cultural factors and effectively develop models tailored to address those specific challenges,” 

Naturinda will work under the guidance of Karim Keshavjee, program director of the MHI program, and in addition to intelligent medicine, says he also has a key interest in implementation science, the study of methods to ensure research is translated into policy, programs and start-ups.

One of Canada’s few professional graduate programs in the field, the MHI program provides students with the skills and strategic vision to take on leadership positions in health care landscape.

The opportunity to learn industry-specific knowledge from health leaders is what made the MHI program a perfect fit, Naturinda says.

“One of the reasons I chose the MHI program is because it is training us to be leaders, innovators and policymakers. I wanted to seek mentorship from people who were making a big impact in strengthening healthcare systems in Canada.”

Public health isn’t the only field Naturinda is pursuing to make an impact. He’s extending his mission to help others as an entrepreneur. Just two years into his journey, he’s on the right track.

During his undergrad, he co-founded the Nugget Poultry Farm (NPF) to help smallholder farmers in western Uganda raise poultry more effectively and improve food access back home. The venture aims to support 1,000 farmers in 20 communities by 2027 and has received a Social Venture Challenge Award from the Mastercard Foundation and the Resolution Project. 

Naturinda enhanced his business knowledge through the Jim Leech MasterCard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship at Queen’s University. Now a program coach, he has trained more than 500 entrepreneurs from Africa-based startups addressing various issues in agribusiness, climate change and healthcare.

Naturinda is eager to tap into U of T’s network of entrepreneurs and has wasted no time reaching out to various groups, including the Black Founders Network. 

“When I train entrepreneurs, I see the impact of them pitching their ventures or winning a grant. It’s the type of impact that I want to see with my research, and bridging those two passions is an ideal step forward,” Naturinda says. 

“As I progress at U of T, I look forward to leveraging opportunities that speak to my background in entrepreneurship, healthcare and research to make sure that I implement them together.”