Dr Dorcas Kamuya
Contact information
Podcast interview
Ethical issues for biobanking in LMICs
Biobanking, the sharing of samples for research purposes, is an emerging area in LMICs. The issue of broad, un-specified consent needs to be addressed, as well as consent given by parents on behalf of their children. We also need to ensure that biobanking doesn’t increase the inequity between developed and developing countries, and that community perceptions about biobanking ultimately feed into policies, guidelines and ethical frameworks.
Research groups
Dorcas Kamuya
Wellcome fellow
- Chair: Health Systems and Research Ethics Department
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.
Recent publications
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Better engagement, better evidence: working in partnership with patients, the public, and communities in clinical trials with involvement and good participatory practice.
Gobat N. et al, (2025), The Lancet. Global health, 13, e716 - e731
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Rethinking the evidence on COVID-19 in Africa.
Bejon P. et al, (2025), The Lancet. Infectious diseases
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Ethical Issues Faced by Data Monitoring Committees: Results from an Exploratory Qualitative Study.
Shah SK. et al, (2024), Ethics & human research, 46, 2 - 13
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Ethical preparedness of data monitoring committees (DMCs) to oversee international clinical trials: a qualitative descriptive study.
Hinga A. et al, (2024), BMJ global health, 9
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A scoping review of ethics review processes during public health emergencies in Africa.
Orievulu K. et al, (2024), BMC medical ethics, 25