In this episode we hear from Joy Kamunyori, a digital health and project management professional from Kenya about her 14 year career assessing, developing and implementing public health IT systems in sub-Saharan African countries.
We discussed:
Joy’s background what she studied and how she ended working in public health
How her passion for education and development and skillset landed her in a public health role that started of her career
How she became interested in Computers and eventually chose to study computer science
What she likes and drew her to coding and computer science
How mentorship played a significant role in her career and choices at many junctures
Her experience pursuing graduate studies in Computer Science
What her work looks like now, in scale and range and the kinds of problems she supports solving
How she considers herself an interpreter in her work in digital health and what that looks like
How her roles have changed as her career has progressed in the field
The relationship between Public health, education and development
How Digital Health as a field and use of technology for health started, emerged and has now expanded to be integral in public health systems
Challenges and key considerations for countries as they transition to having fully digital health information systems and how Joy has come across and been part of these conversations
What are Joy’s favorite things about doing her work
What public health means to Joy
Joy’s advice to a younger self
Top 3 skills she recommends to work on in the field
