Dec 01: New Team on Board!

Nsanyuse okukulaba! Oli otya?

(It’s great to see you! How are you?)

A lot has happened since the Ekyaalo Diagnostics team last visited Uganda in Spring 2024 to conduct our first usability study. Now, we are thrilled to be back, building on the previous team's foundation and taking exciting new steps toward improving breast cancer diagnosis in Uganda.

In June, a new team of graduate CBID students joined Ekyaalo Diagnostics, bringing fresh energy and new expertise for the development of the project:

From left to right we are Arjun, Shreya, Ava, Fujia, Kenny and Sofia! We are biomedical engineering students with extensive experience in cancer research, medicine, engineering, business and innovation.

Over the summer, we focused on understanding the breast cancer landscape in Uganda and learning from the work of the previous Ekyaalo team. This included connecting with key stakeholders at Makerere and Mbarara University to gain deeper insights into the local healthcare ecosystem and refining the technology.

Throughout the fall, we used insights from the spring usability study to refine our product. We made significant updates to the diagnostic algorithm, improved the system’s usability, and enhanced the accuracy of our models by integrating new, annotated datasets.

Now, we are in Uganda for the first time with two important studies underway:

1. Usability Study: We will be working with lab technicians at various healthcare centers — HCIVs, General Referral Hospitals, and Regional Referral Hospitals. The goal is to identify where Ekyaalo can make the most impact and how to adapt it to the unique needs and resources of each site.

2. Accuracy Study: For the first time, pathologists from Mulago and Mbarara Hospitals — part of Uganda’s network of pathologists - will be diagnosing images taken with our system. We are exploring how our these images can provide the clinical information needed to make accurate diagnoses.

   
   

These studies are an essential step in our journey to empower healthcare providers in Uganda with an in-situ diagnostic system at the local level that is most accessible for patients. We are excited to collaborate with our local partners, learn from their expertise, and shape Ekyaalo Diagnostics into a solution that truly meets their needs.

We will be sharing updates throughout our trip, so stay tuned for more insights and stories from our work on the ground. Thank you for joining us on this journey—together, we’re making strides toward a brighter future for breast cancer care in Uganda!

Webale nyo, weeraba!

(Thank you very much, goodbye!)