Paul Macharia

A computer scientist by training, Dr. Macharia’s public health research work focuses on a human-centered design engineering approach to the design, development and prototyping of digital health interventions. He aims to improve the quality and access to healthcare in resource-limited settings by leveraging digital health interventions. Dr. Macharia is a Senior Member at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

For over 15 years, Dr. Macharia has supported and advised leading global health researchers in Kenya, regionally and globally to design, develop and prototype digital health interventions. As a visiting research scientist at Kenyatta National Hospital, he continues to advise and support the Hospital and Kenya’s Ministry of Health on design and implementation of digital health interventions in healthcare.

Among the technologies Dr. Macharia has worked with include biometrics for unique identification, mHealth apps for data collection, screening tools, clinical decision support tools and data science-based digital technologies in healthcare. For his PhD research, he investigated how a human-centered design engineering approach to the development of an mHealth intervention could enhance uptake, acceptance and scale-up as a standard of care.

For Dr. Macharia’s Postdoc, he will lead in the design, development and prototyping of a social media app to foster, peer learning and HIV awareness among adolescents and young adults. The prototype will attempt to interrogate how AI-based tools inbuilt into a social media app could identify and meet adolescents’ information needs. Such AI-based interventions could make it possible to provide on-demand, relevant and appropriate information.