ENGAGE Spotlight: Cynthia Kilango

Finding purpose in an era of AI: Cynthia Kilango's story

Cynthia Kilango is on a transformative journey she never expected. She is currently in Kotka, Finland, pursuing a social sciences program at the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (XAMK). A few months ago, she was presenting research at major conferences in Nairobi. Before that, she was a public health graduate with a deep curiosity about data science and artificial intelligence, and no clear path forward.

Kilango had tried various online courses, but none compared to the impact of the ENGAGE Project (Enabling Girls in AI and Growing Expertise), a training program run in partnership between UCSF and the University of Nairobi. As she puts it: "Before ENGAGE, I never knew what exactly it was I wanted to pursue. Now I do."

The training gave her both the skills and the exposure she needed. After completing the program, Kilango interned at a community health facility, where she witnessed firsthand the financial and emotional burden many young mothers face when seeking treatment. She began exploring how predictive models could support earlier intervention and better health outcomes for women, particularly those from low-income households. The result: a machine learning model designed to help screen for anemia in pregnant women.

Her work caught the attention of organizers at the KEMRI Annual Scientific and Health Conference, where she presented her abstract before a room of researchers and subject matter experts. Doors began to open to networks and possibilities she had never imagined.

Kilango knows what those opportunities can mean. She comes from a humble background, and her parents struggled to keep her in school. A scholarship carried her education from secondary school through university. "I would probably be married somewhere with 10 children," she recalls. "The scholarship brought consistency in school. It helped me perform better."

Now, in Finland, Kilango is learning how to design sustainable solutions. Her hope is to use research, data science, and AI to solve problems at the community level, her newfound mission.

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The ENGAGE Project is a collaborative training program led by the University of Nairobi in partnership with UCSF and six other Kenyan universities. Together, they work to empower young women to use AI and data science to improve health outcomes at the community level.

UCSF Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Alison Comfort

Left to right are Alison Comfort (UCSF PI), Hadija Nalubwama (Research Manager Makerere University), Umar Senoga (Research Assistant), Sylivia Katusabe (Research Assistant), and Sherinah Nakalembe (Research Assistant)

Dr. Alison Comfort's work with Global Programs in Kampala, Uganda, has laid a strong foundation for advancing maternal health research through successful collaboration and streamlined coordination with local counterparts, including Makerere University. This collaboration has been pivotal in implementing groundbreaking studies such as the START ANC project, which aims to improve maternal and fetal health outcomes by encouraging earlier antenatal care (ANC) initiation.

In her current research, Comfort (along with Drs. Josaphat Byamugisha, Alison El Ayadi, and Cynthia Harper) is exploring how social networks—comprised of partners, family, and community members—can influence when pregnant women seek ANC. The START ANC study, involving 250 women at Kawempe National Referral Hospital, investigates how these networks can be leveraged to promote earlier ANC visits, with a focus on how HIV status may affect this dynamic. 

The strong support and coordination provided by the Global Programs Uganda team has enabled her to focus on research that has the potential to significantly impact maternal health outcomes in Uganda, further strengthening the relationship between her team and their local partners.

Comfort says, “It has been a pleasure to work with Peruth Kyomugisha on this project, and I look forward to our continued collaboration.”