About EAB

The East African Biodesign (EAB) fellowship is a leading-edge initiative at the University of Global Health Equity in partnership with the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, the University of Rwanda, and Kenyatta University.

EAB is committed to fostering need-driven innovations founded on the true understanding of unmet healthcare needs of the East African region using the Biodesign process. Over 10-months, our multidisciplinary group of fellows will engage in a transformative project-based learning experience, combining classroom instruction, hands-on experience, and mentorship from experts in the ecosystem. They will learn to identify unmet clinical needs, conduct rigorous validation research, and leverage this deep appreciation to ideate, prototype, and implement innovative solutions that foster equitable healthcare delivery.

Our 2024 Fellows

Maureen Mebo Valle

Maureen is a passionate biomedical engineer and dedicated healthcare innovator. She has over three years of experience in maintaining, developing, and clinically evaluating medical devices in low-resource settings. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Malawi University of Science and Technology. Before joining the EAB fellowship, Maureen conducted clinical trials and usability studies for neonatal medical device prototypes and evaluated the IMPALA patient monitors. Additionally, she was a 2023 International Maternal Newborn Health Conference Fellow and a 2023 Youth Capacity Building Participant at the Tanzania Health Summit. She is dedicated to improving healthcare technology equity in low-resource settings through innovation, leadership, and mentoring.

Bazil Masabo Mlamba

Bazil is a creative innovator. Since a young age, he was interested in both medicine and engineering. He found a perfect combination of both in biomedical engineering. He received a seed grant under the Rice 360 Invention Education Program to build low-cost oxygen concentrators for low-resource settings. He was an exchange program fellow at the University of Pisa in 2022, working with researchers from Pisa and Kenya on various research projects as an electronics engineer and data analyst. As a lifelong academic, Bazil also enjoys mentoring upcoming student innovators. When not in his engineering hat, he curates content for his blog, bmasabo.com, and enjoys singing and playing the guitar or violin. He is terrible at competitive sports.

Salsawit Tesfaye Yigrem 

Salsa is a fun-loving medical doctor. Her goal in life is to alter the healthcare/medical service of the world by summing it up with science, innovation, technology, and humility. Originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she graduated from St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College in 2018. Salsa has always been passionate about progressive medicine and innovation in medical product/technology, process/system innovation as well as social innovation. Before joining the EAB, she worked at the Corner for Healthcare Innovations, focusing on using 3D printing technology in medicine for resource-limited setups and aspiring to research 4D bioprinting and more. She envisions a world of progressive and personalized medicine through technology. She loves photography and visual literacy.

Nsengiyumva Kwizera Bertrand

Bertrand is a dedicated Rwandan medical professional with a strong passion for technology. His fascination with computers sparked his lifelong devotion to technology. While studying medical school at the University of Rwanda, Bertrand learned how to develop websites independently. He is committed to improving healthcare and co-founded Incision Rwanda, an organization aimed at sustainable and accessible surgical care in Rwanda. Beyond medicine, he actively engaged in various health tech projects, including the creation of the Smart Helmet and Twimenye app. He also established Baho Design, a for-profit business specializing in graphic design. In his leisure time, he enjoys quality moments with friends and family, indulging in technology-related literature, swimming, movies, and music.

Contact us via email at: innovation_center@ughe.org 

2025 Applications will open soon; stay tuned!