Precision health,
built in Rwanda.

The large studies that underpin modern precision medicine draw overwhelmingly on people of European ancestry. When that data is applied to a patient in Kigali, the results get shakier at every step: risk scores transfer poorly, pharmacogenomic guidance about which drug to give and at what dose is less certain, and a far higher share of genetic variants come back flagged as “significance unknown” — a result that helps nobody. Screening thresholds calibrated elsewhere may be catching the wrong people here, too early or too late.

Closing that gap is not something Rwanda can wait for others to do. It requires cohorts recruited here, sequencing capacity operated here, and scientists who stay. Our research agenda runs on four strands, each tied to the pharmacy network that gives us reach into ordinary communities rather than only into hospitals.