Management

Bio

Dorcas Kamuya the Head of the Health Systems and Research Ethics (HSRE) Department at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. She is also a Wellcome Trust Society & Ethics fellow. Dr. Kamuya is primarily based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya; is a member of several collaborative initiatives including Global Health Bioethics Network, Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) on Neuro-disability studies; International Association of Bioethics (IAB), among others.

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Current Work

Her fellowship research is an empirical ethics examining if and how communities could be engaged on complex ethical topics, with bio-banking as a case study. As a social science researcher in LMIC, her research interests span several interrelated areas: ethical and social-cultural issues around emerging technologies (biobanking, machine learning); the value of community and public engagement in health research; ethical dilemmas for frontline research workers; and responsibility of researchers and research institutions conducting research in resource-limited contexts.

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Recent publications

Rethinking the evidence on COVID-19 in Africa.
Bejon, P., Agweyu, A., Ochola-Oyier, L. I., Hamaluba, M., Kamuya, D., Kinyanjui, S., Barasa, E.
Lancet Infect Dis, (2025). :

Better engagement, better evidence: working in partnership with patients, the public, and communities in clinical trials with involvement and good participatory practice.
Gobat, N., Slack, C., Hannah, S., Salzwedel, J., Bladon, G., Burgos, J. G., Purvis, B., Molony-Oates, B., Siegfried, N., Cheah, P. Y., Conway, M., Kamuya, D., Davies, A., Johnson, T., Tholanah, M., Mugamba, S., Mutengu, N. L., Machingaidze, S., Schwartz, L., Rägo, L., von Harbou, K.
Lancet Glob Health, (2025). 13:e716-e731

Ethical preparedness of data monitoring committees (DMCs) to oversee international clinical trials: a qualitative descriptive study.
Hinga, A., Ibrahim, A., Vintimilla, D., Jones, M., Eckstein, L., Rid, A., Shah, S. K., Kamuya, D.
BMJ Glob Health, (2024). 9:

A scoping review of ethics review processes during public health emergencies in Africa.
Orievulu, K., Hinga, A., Nkosi, B., Ngwenya, N., Seeley, J., Akanlu, A., Tindana, P., Molyneux, S., Kinyanjui, S., Kamuya, D.
BMC Med Ethics, (2024). 25:63

Community engagement and the centrality of 'working relationships' in health research.
Vincent, R., Kamuya, D., Adhikari, B., Nyirenda, D., Lavery, J. V., Molyneux, S.
BMJ Glob Health, (2024). 9: