Speakers: Paul Macharia, MSc, PhD student, and Matthew Dunbar, PhD

Title: A decade of collecting research data electronically in a resource limited setting; experience sharing

Paul Macharia Msc, a 3rd-year Ph.D. student in human-centered design (HCD), is a health informatics specialist with a wealth of experience in design, implementation, and scaling-up of information and communication technologies in public health systems in Kenya and other African settings. For over a decade, he continues to work with researchers to provide technical assistance on the design of mhealth applications for data collection and healthcare interventions. Paul worked in NASCOP as a data manager and facilitated integration and use of open data kit (ODK) as a leading app for the collection of research and program data. He continues to support a CFAR infrastructural grand award-purchased server at NASCOP running ODK servers for multiples studies in Kenya. His research interests are in human-centered design, mhealth, patient unique identification, adolescent reproductive health, computer, and information security. Currently, he’s part of the 2019 IARTP cohort in the non-degree program mentored by Brandon L. Guthrie and Matthew Dunbar to work on a web-based surveillance dashboard for assisted partner services (aPS) in Kenya. He aims to bring a human-centered approach to the design and implementation of technology-based health interventions. He also plans to mentor upcoming data managers on tool design, data encryption and incorporation of data quality assurance features in ODK.

Matt joined CSDE’s Methods and Data Core in 2008 to lead the development of a research infrastructure for spatial analysis. He came to CSDE with over seven years of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) research experience. At CSDE he has developed relationships with and supported the spatial analysis research needs of our center’s faculty affiliates to use GIS to collect/create, store, manage, display and analyze spatial demographic data. Broad areas of GIS services provided for affiliates’ research includes mobile data collection (phone devices with GPS), mapping/cartography, geocoding/address-matching, GIS database creation, archiving, and management, spatial data acquisition, spatial statistics and customized programming. In 2010, he received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Kansas. In 2013 he assumed the role of Assistant Director of CSDE to better integrate our faculty’s research needs and our center’s administrative and service capacities. In 2016 he became an Affiliate Assistant Professor in Geography.