Going digital to save lives: U of T student aims to eliminate barriers to health care

Growing up in Uganda Naturinda Emmanuel aspired to be a physician and health leader who eliminates barriers to access to health care for people from underserved, remote communities.

“I have always wanted to address various health care issues in my country – that is my motivation,” he says. “I want to gain the skills and expertise to strengthen health systems to provide care to those in need.”

Naturinda (his last name) is currently a graduate of the University of Toronto, where he is studying smart medicine and electronic health records as part of the Master of Science in Health Informatics program at the Institute for Public Health Policy, Management and Evaluation of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (IHPME).

He actively engages with the startup community, has launched a successful impact-driven enterprise in Uganda, and has trained other entrepreneurs.

Naturinda joined IHPME with the support of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, a global education initiative focusing on the next generation of African leaders, and the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative (AHEHC), a partnership between U of T, the Mastercard Foundation and leading African universities. AHEHC was established in 2022 to support the education, entrepreneurship and innovation of primary health care workers in Africa.

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

He later returned home during the Covid-19 pandemic to volunteer in the clinical microbiology and immunology departments at a local hospital. The experience led him to think about how to improve systems that were suddenly facing new challenges in already stressed hospitals – namely by continuing to use paper records.

Medical records are the basis for developing efficient and effective smart medicine models, he says, while smart medicine refers to the use of machine learning models to process medical data and reduce errors in patient care. Big data can also enable healthcare workers to detect patterns in health – such as an emerging epidemic – to better prepare for public health threats.

However, low- and middle-income countries face many barriers to digitizing health data, including limited access to technology and lack of standard data formats. The use of paper records also causes delays in the retrieval of laboratory test results and hinders the effective understanding of patients’ medical histories.

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

Naturinda will work under supervision Karim KeshavjeeAssistant Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Health Informatics program. In addition to intelligent medicine, Naturinda is also interested in implementation science, i.e. the study of methods that ensure the translation of research into policies, programs and start-ups.

One of the few graduate professional programs in Canada, the Master of Science in Health Informatics program provides students with the skills and strategic vision necessary to pursue leadership positions in the healthcare landscape.

The opportunity to gain industry knowledge from health leaders made the program a perfect fit, Naturinda says.

“One of the reasons I chose the MHI program is because it trains us to be leaders, innovators and decision-makers. I wanted to seek mentorship from people who have had a major impact on strengthening health care systems in Canada.”

Public health isn’t the only area where Naturinda hopes to make an impact. As an entrepreneur, he also wants to help others – this journey is already at an advanced stage.

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

Naturinda expanded his business knowledge with a Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Entrepreneurship Fellowship at Queen’s University. Currently, as a program trainer, he has trained over 500 entrepreneurs from African start-ups dealing with various issues in the field of agribusiness, climate change and healthcare.

Naturinda wants to take advantage of U of T’s network of entrepreneurs and is wasting no time reaching out to various groups, including the Black Founders Network.

“When I train entrepreneurs, I see the impact they have when they present their ventures or get a grant. This is the kind of impact I want to see in my research, and combining these two passions is the perfect step forward,” says Naturinda.

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