Exploring pharmacogenetic factors influencing hydroxyurea response in Tanzanian sickle cell disease patients: a genomic medicine approach (Dr Siana Watoky Nkya)

Dr Nkya is a Senior lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). For the past 15 years, she has gathered research experience in biomedical science, particularly in molecular biology and human genetics. Dr Nkya’s research focuses on utilizing human molecular and genomics skills for disease prevention, diagnosis, understanding disease mechanisms, intervention discovery and development (drugs and gene-based therapies), and monitoring treatment outcomes (pharmacogenomics). She has primarily applied her skills in malaria and sickle cell disease (SCD). During her early training, she conducted malaria research, focusing on molecular resistant markers of drug resistance in P. falciparum. For her PhD training, she conducted research in SCD genomics. In 2014, she led the establishment of a genetic database of more than 1700 individuals with SCD, which is among the first in Africa. Throughout her career, Dr Nkya has worked closely with the Molecular Hematology Department at King's College London, the Medical Genetics Group at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, and the Department of Applied Sciences at the University of Northumbria. Dr Nkya was part of the team that established the newborn screening program for SCD in Tanzania, gaining experience in setting up a laboratory for screening and diagnosing. Dr Nkya has received various research support, including the Fogarty Global Health Fellowship (2016) and the Emerging Global Leader Award (K43, 2019-2024) from the NIH , American Society of Hematology (ASH) Global Research Award (2018) to conduct a study on pharmacogenomics, Novartis Global Health investigators-initiated trial (2022-2024) to scale up the pharmacogenomics study to Ghana and Nigeria, Early Career Women Scientist award from the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) to develop a minION DNA diagnostic technology for hemoglobinopathies in collaboration with the University of Oxford, UK . In 2017, Dr Nkya is a co-founder of the Tanzania Human Genetics Organisation (THGO) which is part of the Africa Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG) and currently serve as the first President. Dr Nkya is has also worked with the sickle cell disease program in Tanzania for the past 15 years at different capacities and is currently the Co-PI and research technical lead of the SickleInAfrica clinical coordinating centre (SickleInAfrica-CCC), which coordinates research across the SickleInAfrica consortium with sites in seven countries in Africa.