Voices of health research ethics in Kenya

Dorcas leads research on the ethics of emerging technologies, collaborative science, and pandemic response. Her work explores ethical frameworks for biobanking and cell line generation in Africa, addressing social acceptability, cultural norms, and equity. She advocates for proactive, context-specific ethics to ensure research is inclusive, trustworthy, and impactful in African settings.

I am a Wellcome Trust Society & Ethics fellow, conducting empirical ethics research examining if and how communities could be engaged on complex ethical topics, with bio-banking as a case study. Other areas I am involved include developing ethical frameworks on Controlled Human Infection Studies for LMIC. As a social science researcher in LMIC, my research interests span two interrelated areas: the value of community and public engagement in health research, and ethical dilemmas for frontline research workers. I am primarily based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya. I currently chair the Health Systems and Research Ethics Department, and co-lead the Health Systems Research theme in the Programme.

I am a member of several collaborative initiatives including Board Member of International Association of Bioethics (IAB); Global Health Bioethics Network, H3Africa Community Engagement working group, Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) on Neuro-ethics research, among others. My research work is shared through a growing list of publications, presentations in many national and international meetings and conferences.