Wafaa M Rashed: Future African Leaders, Voices from 8th Cohort – Ester Acen

Wafaa M Rashed, Faculty Lecturer of pharmacy at the Ahram Canadian University, shared a post by Ester Acen, Biomedical Scientist at Makerere University, on LinkedIn, adding:

“Future African Leaders: Voices from 8th Cohort
Dear Ester Acen

Thank you for such a deeply insightful and heartfelt reflection. Your words beautifully capture the very essence of what this course aims to inspire: a transformation not just in knowledge, but in purpose.

Your reflections – from integrity in research, to the importance of community engagement, to the power of advocacy beyond academic spaces – are powerful reminders of how genetics and genomics must remain grounded in ethics, public relevance, and justice.

The example you shared about your non-scientific meeting made me smile – it illustrates perfectly how even the most technical knowledge, when shared with passion and clarity, can spark curiosity and bridge the gap between science and society.

Your journey – from publishing scientific findings to now owning the role of a genomics advocate – is exactly why PAPERI exists. And I am honored that our course could be a small part of your inspiring evolution.

Africa needs voices like yours—credible, courageous, and committed to equity. Thank you for bringing that voice to our cohort.

With admiration and appreciation,
Dr. Wafaa M. Rashed
Chair & Founder – Pan-African PGS Education and Research Initiative (PAPERI)”

Quoting Ester Acen‘s post:

“Reflection on what I have learnt from Genetics and Genomics Policy Advocacy Course

One of the important things in policy advocacy is that it ensures that regulations support innovation and protect research integrity.

1 My reflection on integrity in research: This reminds me of our research on the DBP genetic polymorphisms among TB patients.  We had a homogeneous population requiring a bigger sample size to detect minor alleles. And this may have implications on funding. But also struggle to publish. As a researcher it is important to have integrity and not fabricate or manipulate results.

2 My reflection on current genetic policies: Just wondering if all these policies work for the rest of Africa.
Advocacy strategies involve deliberate actions taken to influence policy decisions and resource allocation in genetics and genomics

3 My reflection on Advocacy strategies: As a genetics and genomics researcher I should be deliberate in getting involved in advocating for genetics and genomics to the public. Most of the time as researchers we communicate our finding to fellow scientist at conferences and other scientific meetings. Advocacy goes beyond that.

4 My reflection on policy development: I now understand that I should be deliberate in carrying out impactful research that will provide evidence-based data that may be used for policies in genomics. what I learn is that our research should be informed by the needs of the public and not done to be kept at the shelves.

5 My reflection on ethical consideration: I remember a few years back during my Masters research, the genomics data collection tools were not a requirement by the ethical review board. But now genomic data collection tools are carefully examined and this has improved data collection. However the issue of returning to the community to explain findings from our research has not been clearly implemented.  This would be part of advocacy.

Conclusion: Finally, this reminds me about a recent scenario during a non-Scientific meeting, the master of ceremony asked everyone in attendance to introduce themselves and at least tell people one thing they love to do.  After attending from the Genetic and Genomic Policy Advocacy Course organized by Dr Wafaa Rashed, for the first time at such a meeting I said “I love looking at genomic data, and analyzing how SNPs are like predispose individuals to disease”.

Suddenly there was this look on all the participants faces. Most importantly I had their full attention. During the tea break a few of them came to ask me more about genetics. I was reminded about public engagement. Therefore, joining this course, I am becoming an advocate of genomics and genetic research and look forward to engage in genetic and genomic policies in our country.

I would like to appreciate Dr Wafaa M Rashed through the PAPERI foundation for the opportunity granted to work with her in promoting genetics and genomics policy advocacy.”

More posts featuring Wafaa M Rashed on OncoDaily.