Edina Amponsah-Dacosta

Dr Edina Amponsah-Dacosta serves as a Research Officer and Evidence-Informed Decision-Making Specialist (EIDM) on the NISH project. She is a trained Medical Virologist, Vaccinologist and Health Systems researcher. Edina has an MSc and a PhD in Medical Virology from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, and a Masters in Public Health (Health Policy and Systems specialization) from the University of Cape Town (UCT). She also completed a five-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Vaccinology at the Vaccines for Africa Initiative (VACFA) based at UCT.

Edina is involved in the development of EIDM resources and in the organization of Vaccinology and EIDM courses and capacity development workshops geared towards members of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs). In line with VACFA’s vision of “An Africa free of vaccine preventable diseases”, Edina’s research focus draws on her strong interdisciplinary background in pursuing the goal of expanding the reach of lifesaving vaccines and reducing the burden of vaccine preventable diseases across the African region. She is the Principal Investigator of a Gilead Sciences sponsored project assessing the neglected burden of viral hepatitis among HIV-exposed uninfected and infected pediatric populations. Furthermore, she is interested in scaling-up health systems capacity to support under-utilized immunization programmes like hepatitis B birth-dose vaccination, Human Papillomavirus vaccination, and maternal immunization programmes. Edina is also involved in conducting clinical trials and systematic reviews, postgraduate teaching and supervision, and co-organizing the annual African Vaccinology Course hosted by VACFA. She is an affiliate member of the African Academy of Sciences.

Publications: Edina Amponsah-Dacosta on Google Scholar