Meet our Innovation Platform Fellows

On this page, we are highlighting some of our Africa-Oxford Innovation Platform Fellows. Each one is an outstanding African innovator building a high-growth, science-based venture to address pressing challenges in Africa. We spotlight how they are developing bioscience start-ups in nascent deep science ecosystems, and how nurturing translational research on the continent is central to offering commercialisation pathways for these impact-led solutions.

Translational research in Africa to address lack of genetic diversity when testing human-drug response

Professor Rose Hayeshi is Director of the DSI/NWU Preclinical Drug Development Platform (PCDDP) and was an Africa Oxford Health Innovation Fellow in 2022. The PCDDP is a hosted research entity in the Faculty of Health Sciences, at North-West University in South Africa. It has an academic arm and a service delivery arm. The academic staff conduct research and supervise post-graduate students, but also participate in contract research.

The PCDDP functions as a national preclinical testing platform. It has established the infrastructure and skills set required to perform various in in vivo studies in rodent models, attracting product developers (drugs, vaccines, phytomedicines) to use of the facility.

The ultimate aim is to create an infrastructure to enable South Africa to play a significant role in the production of pharmaceutical drugs and phyto-medicines, so that novel pharmaceutical products and biologicals, such as vaccines, are developed and produced locally.

Meet Philip Lugoloobi

In this interview, Innovation Fellowships Manager, Rachel Abernethy, speaks to Philip Lugoloobi who was part of the very first cohort of Africa-Oxford Health Innovation Fellows back in autumn of 2021. When he applied, Philip was a final year medical student, at Makerere University in Uganda. She asks him about his project, Blood Alarm System, and how the Africa-Oxford Health Innovators Programme has helped him to develop it.

Translating research into an STI diagnostic designed for African women

Fezile Khumalo (PhD) is a Carnegie Junior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine and Department of Pathology: Division of Virology at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and was an Africa Oxford Health Innovation Fellow in 2023. She is establishing a translational platform within UCT to move more discoveries towards specific diagnostic applications. She is organising resources and expertise to build appropriate prototypes, ensure appropriate use of diagnostic platforms and capture clinical know-how to ensure the diagnostics are appropriate for healthcare settings across Africa. She has experience in the advancement of proof-of-concept studies for potential commercial application of diagnostic tools.

As part of the GIFT team, Fezile is developing a point-of-care lateral flow test to enable screening of BV and STI in asymptomatic women in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs).

Innovation Fellowship Bootcamp

Each year, we offer AfOx Innovation Fellowships to up to 15 innovators whose projects offer the greatest potential for successful venture development and significant impact.

These innovators are invited to a week-long boot camp in Oxford, which offers them an opportunity to participate in hands-on workshops and engage with their peers. In Summer 2023, 25 innovators were invited to the event held at Saïd Business School and Keble College.

The boot camp covers essential topics for deep science start-ups including intellectual property rights, regulatory considerations, fundraising strategies, and building the team.

Inspiring Stories shared at the Africa Oxford Health Innovation Platform

The BioEscalator community had the opportunity to meet and share entrepreneurial stories with participants of The Africa Oxford Health Innovation Platform (AfOx-HIP) programme.

The exceptionally talented young African innovators had gathered at Oxford University's Said Business School for a week-long boot camp to develop new solutions to Africa's health challenges. The fellows are all based in Africa, building ventures within their local contexts, characterised by embryonic innovation ecosystems.