Mastercard Foundation Scholar brings mission to improve livelihoods to U of T
Growing up in Uganda, Naturinda Emmanuel aspired to be a medical doctor and health leader. He wants to eliminate barriers to healthcare access for those in underserved, remote communities.
It’s a goal he is determined to accomplish to honour his mom’s memory. He believes that if his family had stronger access to healthcare delivery, he’d still have his mom with him today.
“I always wanted to address different healthcare issues in my country; that is my motivation,” says Naturinda, a graduate student focused on intelligent medicine and electronic medical records in the Master of Health Informatics (MHI) program at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME).
“I want to gain the skills and expertise to strengthen healthcare systems to ensure that those who need care can receive it.”
From scholar to systems innovator
Naturinda joins IHPME with help from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative (AHEHC). The Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is a global education initiative that provides the next generation of African leaders who are dedicated to social transformation access to higher education. The AHEHC, a partnership between U of T, the Mastercard Foundation and leading African universities, was established in 2022 to drive primary healthcare workforce education, entrepreneurship and innovation across Africa.
This is Naturinda’s second time studying abroad with the Mastercard Foundation. He became the first in his family to do so when he was awarded a scholarship to pursue an undergraduate degree in laboratory medicine at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana.
He returned home amidst the COVID-19 pandemic to volunteer in the clinical microbiology and immunology departments at a local hospital. Experiencing the new pressures burdened on hospitals, he thought about how to improve systems, namely the continued use of paper records.