Erin Kinghorn

Erin Kinghorn is a science communicator and research communications officer at the University of Cape Town, specialising in African genomics, personalised medicine, and ethical, culturally aware science communication. Her work focuses on translating complex scientific research into accessible, context-sensitive narratives that bridge researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and the public.

In her webinar, Whose Data, Whose Story? Reclaiming Nuance in Personalised Medicine Beyond AI Models, Kinghorn examines the ethical challenges of AI-driven personalised medicine in African contexts. She highlights how models trained on non-African datasets can misrepresent or overstate their applicability, producing risks of misinformation, inequitable outcomes, and misplaced trust. The talk argues for culturally aware science communication as a critical ethical practice—one that clarifies the limits of data, situates findings within lived realities, and safeguards communities from harm. Beyond translation, she positions communication as a site of ethical intervention, capable of reshaping narratives around African genomic data, challenging assumptions embedded in global models, and advancing more accountable and contextually grounded approaches to AI and healthcare.

Watch the webinar on our YouTube channel:

Whose Data, Whose Story? Reclaiming Nuance in Personalised Medicine Beyond AI Models - Erin Kinghorn