In Africa, faculty perform global public health research with a local focus

When researchers go abroad to collect data from citizens of other countries, it can create conflict. Many times, the researchers’ intentions are misunderstood, or the local population may feel excluded or patronized. A dedicated team of scientists at Loyola University Chicago’s Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health seeks to mitigate these tensions by involving local researchers in their projects in Africa. 

Long-term colleagues Amy Luke, department chair and professor of public health sciences; Lara Dugas, professor; and Bamidele Tayo, division director and professor, all have different training—Tayo as a genetic epidemiologist, Dugas as a noncommunicable disease epidemiologist, and Luke as a nutritionist with expertise in metabolism. However, their work contributes to a comprehensive understanding of various diseases. 

African connections

The three colleagues have different connections to Africa. Luke’s research centers on nutrition, obesity, and hypertension. Through her research and years of experience, Parkinson has benefited from multiple international projects. 

Luke has also inspired other researchers in the public health field. When Dugas began her career in South Africa, the general assumption of many in the medical community was that health disparities were caused by physiological or genetic differences only. Now, scientists know that social determinants—like access to food or stress caused by societal and environmental factors such as racism—also impact health. 

“When I heard Amy speak, I just knew that was my beacon,” Dugas says, and she was determined to work with her. With the assistance of Luke and Richard Cooper, professor emeritus, she changed the focus of her research. Dugas now examines lifestyle determinants of noncommunicable diseases, including diet, physical activity, gut microbiota, and sleep health. Her connection to Africa includes research on the impact of climate change on health outcomes, specifically heat adaptation interventions and sleep health in vulnerable African populations.

Nigerian native Tayo was drawn to Loyola during his graduate work. “The team was interested in not only collecting and using data from the African community but also empowering young, local scientists and researchers,” he says. Tayo has studied genetic association, medication adherence, and blood pressure control in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana. 

Although Luke, Dugas, and Tayo have never all partnered on a specific project, their interests and studies overlap on topics like hypertension, nutrition, obesity, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. They also study risk factors for chronic diseases among Africans and people of the African diaspora. Thus, their areas of research are interconnected. According to Luke, “They’re all tied in together,” and as Tayo points out, “Each of us is laying the foundation for one person or the other.” 

Involving local researchers

All three professors are passionate about global research that incorporates the people within the communities they are studying. For too long, Luke says, researchers would arrive in a country, take data from people, use it for their own purposes, and leave. “Historically, many biomedical researchers from high-income countries, particularly in Europe and the United States, have had a top-down, patronizing approach to working in low- and middle-income countries,” Luke said. 

It’s important, Tayo adds, to ensure that local colleagues are equal partners in international research. “Involving [local] colleagues and giving them the freedom to lead actually rules out the common feeling that other people experience, the feeling of inferiority,” he says. When local counterparts believe that people from the United States are the knowledgeable ones, this, Tayo says, “creates friction. We do [our research] in a way that brings in everybody as part of the team,” Tayo says. “Nobody is inferior.”

For Dugas, a key to success has been to encourage the local team at each site to maintain autonomy and control of their own projects.

The Loyola group is often in awe of the lengths to which their international counterparts go to collect data.

One team, for example, Dugas said, drives about 90 minutes to the research site each day, where they spend hours preparing samples for analysis.

“Honestly, it’s very humbling to think what they are going through to get the quality of the data that they are,” Dugas says. “It’s just amazing to see how everyone works together.” 

Read more stories from the Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health.