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.

Dorcas Kamuya is the Head of Health Systems and Research Ethics (HSRE) Department at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya; and Professor of Global Health Bioethics at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.

Dorcas’s research includes examining ethical and social-cultural issues on complex topics including bio-banking, Controlled Human Infection Studies (HIS), cross-border data sharing; pandemic preparedness and response in LMICs.

Her current research portfolio includes as a co-investigators and co-chair of the African Population Cohort Consortium (APCC), co-leading work that is examining vaccines for vulnerable populations (VANGUARD), a co-Investigator in Global Health Bioethics Network (GHBN), and is leading social science workstream that is examining acceptability and public confidence in Locally Manufactured vaccines within the broader CHANJO-HUB - Catalysing vaccines & biologics manufacturing in Africa). She continues to examine the value of community and public engagement in health research, and ethical dilemmas for frontline research workers in LMIC settings.

Dorcas is a member of several scientific committees and boards within Kenya, regionally and internationally, including the Africa CDC ethics thematic working group, the Advisory Board of the International Association on Bioethics, the Ethics Thematic working group in the Health Systems Global, and the NIHR Community Engagement and Involvement advisory group among others.