About Me
I am a Google DeepMind Scholar studying a master's in Artificial Intelligence for Science at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), South Africa and the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Previously, I was a visiting Data Science Africa (DSA) Research Fellow, hosted at Centre for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DSAIL) in Nyeri, Kenya where I worked on computer vision approaches for automated measurements of flexion angle and lower limb alignment.
I hold a BSc. Biomedical Engineering from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
During my undergraduate, I worked with Professor Ciira Maina at DSAIL in
Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Nyeri, Kenya on developing a wearable device
for monitoring recovery of orthopedic patients.
I also visited Marconi Research and Innovations Lab in
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, where I worked with Dr. Andrew Katumba
on developing
Swahili speech recognition model,
and with
Dr. Jan Mikelson on breast
cancer hackathon preparation which took place at the University of Texas, USA.
Both experiences resulted in peer-reviewed publications.
I also interned at Talent Bridge Africa
supporting clients with data-driven decision making insights. And
at Zilliz to assist AI developers in using Milvus, a popular open-source vector database.
I won multiple scholarships to participate in person in international data science events in countries like Ghana, Norway, France, Rwanda, South Africa.
I have also been an active member in communities such as KamiLimu, IEEE, Toastmasters, where I have organized events, lead new initiatives and mentored others.
As a result, I've gained interest in contributing to the development of machine learning solutions to contribute solutions to my community and beyond.
News
PhysioNet Challenge, May - October 2024
Remote | Won the Data Science Africa 1st prize! Involving classification of ECG Images. Finished 6th out of 16! And published a peer-reviewed manuscript on CinC conference!
Deep Learning IndabaX, Aug 2024, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology
Inperson, Nyeri, Kenya | Won the Africa AI Research Award 2024!
Deep Learning + Reinforcement Learning Summer School, June 2024
Toronto, Canada | Awarded the CIFAR Inclusive AI Scholarship for the 2024 CIFAR Deep Learning + Reinforcement Learning Summer School. (Visa delayed, so I didn't make it)
Data Science Africa, June 2024, Dedan Kimathi University of Technology
Inperson, Nyeri, Kenya | Part of the organising committee.
Data Protection Hackathon, May 2024, Windsor Golf Hotel
Inperson, Nairobi, Kenya | Finished fourth and attended NADPA conference.
2023/24 Emerging Leaders in AI, Black in AI, Oct'23 - May '24
Virtual | Among 131 scholars accepted and completed the 8 months program!
Deep Learning Indaba, September 2023, University of Ghana
Inperson, Accra, Ghana | Presented at TrustAI workshop, facilitated a probability session, and presented a poster.
Probabilistic AI School, June 2023 at NTNU
Inperson, Trondheim, Norway | Documented probabilistic machine learning lessons on GitHub and LinkedIn.
IST-Africa, May 2023, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Inperson, Tshwane, South Africa | Won (KENET) grant and presented a peer reviewed paper.
Data Science Africa, May 2023 at University of Rwanda
Inperson, Kigali, Rwanda | Documented my learning and implementation on GitHub and LinkedIn.
Breast Cancer Hackathon, March 2023, University of Texas Southwestern
Inperson, Dallas, Texas | Publish our work on Frontier and documented experience on LinkedIn.
Human Cell Atlas (HCA), Cell Atlas Meeting in Nov. 2022
Inperson, at Sorbonne Université, Paris, France | Documented on LinkedIn.
Hands-on Data Analysis for Metabolic Profiling, Nov. 2022, Imperial
Online, London, UK | Won an MRC full fee bursary to Complete the course
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Course, July 2022, EURECA-PRO
Online | Attended 14 lectures by 7 European universities on entrepreneurship & innovation. Certificate.
Data Science Africa, July 2022, Institute of Accountancy Arusha
Inperson, Arusha, Tanzania | Presented an orthopedic wearable device and documented on LinkedIn.
AWS Impact+ Hackathon, October 2022, Strathmore University
Inperson, Nairobi, Kenya | pitched and won the second runs up position
International Students Conference, October 2022, Kyambogo University
Inperson, Kampala, Uganda | Invited by IEEE as student panelist and documented on LinkedIn.
The George B. Moody PhysioNet Challenge, September 2022
Online | Collaborated with Bjørn-Jostein . Developed 2 deep learning models and presented at CinC conference.
FeatureCloud Hackathon, June 2022, University of Hamburg
Online, Hamburg, Germany | Documenting on GitHub.
19th International Summer School BIO-X, May 2022, Orthodox Academy
Inperson, Crete, Greece | Delivered the closing speech and documented my learning on LinkedIn.
Association of Medical Engineers of Kenya (AMEK), December 2021
Inperson, Kakamega, Kenya | Documented my presentation Linkedln.
IEEE Xtreme coding competition, October 2021
Online | Competed and awarded Certificate of Participation.
Polish Telemedicine and ehealth Society, Sept. 2021
Online, Warsaw, Poland | Collaborated with Prof. Doniec and Anghelo on a presentation on Telemedicine in Kenya, Peru and Poland.
KamiLimu Mentorship Program, August 2021
Hybrid, Nairobi, Kenya | Among 36 cohort 6 mentees . Completing with the most outstanding attendance and community engagement. Also featured on Medium.
Launched IEEE CASS, June 2021, Kenyatta University
Inperson, Nairobi, Kenya | Featured on IEEE CASS newsletter.
Digital Fabrication, December 2020, Maker Space, Nairobi University
Hybrid, Nairobi, Kenya | 3D printing, CNC milling and Laser cutter . Certificate.
Value Centered Leadership, April 2020, DePaul University
Online | 16 weeks of value centred leadership . Certificate.
Experiences
Visiting Research Fellow
Data Science Africa | January 2024 - present
Developing a machine learning-based web application to enhance orthopedic recovery monitoring by accurately estimating joint flexion angles.
Designing Python-powered dashboards for effective visualization of orthopedic recovery data, focusing on joint flexion angles to aid clinical assessments.
Implemented robust data storage solutions using time series databases such as InfluxDB and SQL, optimizing data retrieval and scalability.
Visiting Undergraduate Research Assistant
Marconi Research and Innovations Lab, Uganda | January 2023 - March 2023
Developed a Swahili speech recognition model as preliminary steps towards building a more reliable, robust and autonomous patient-doctor documentation tool with the mentorship of Dr. Andrew.
Additionally, prepared and participated in a breast cancer hackathon challenge at the University of Texas
Southwestern with the mentorship of Dr. Jan and published a position paper on our implementation.
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Centre for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence (DSAIL) | February 2022 - April 2022
Designed hardware and software for monitoring of knee rehabilitating patients using an Arduino microcontroller and python programming language with the mentorship of Professor Ciira.
This work was presented at IST-Africa 2023 Proceedings in South Africa. Additionally, won a Mini-Grant award to further development and test the device in a clinic.
Documentation Focal Point
Uvumbuzi Tech Challenge | June 2021 - August 2021
Collaborated in a team of six, including Kakuma and Kaloyebei residents, in a 12 weeks research and development of frugal technology for low cost and sustainable cooking in Kakuma and Kaloyebei, the largest refugee camps in Kenya.
Logged the cook's team research, designs, and prepared progress reports. Used collaboration tools such as Google Workspace for all the documentation and communication.
After the challenge, I wrote a reflection of my learning and shared the results of our work on a medium blog and on LinkedIn.
Data Intern
Talent Bridge Africa | June 2020 - December 2020
Worked fully remote for seven months investigating and preparing reports on healthcare trends, with support of senior market researcher, Stella Nzisa, and business consultant, Veronica George, to support clients make informed healthcare investment decisions during the pandemic.
Updated the Talent Bridge Africa's healthcare database with thousands of data points from the research findings. Collaborated using online video conferencing tools and Google Workspace to successful completion of projects. Supported two other projects, on education, with data preparation and organization.
Gained a huge appreciation for the usefulness of data in supporting decision making. Recommendation letter.
Biomedical Engineer Attaché
Kiambu Level 5 Hospital | May 2019 - August 2019
Spent my only school break interning at biomedical engineering department of the hospital. Involved in installation of over 5 new pieces of medical equipment. Conducted over 50 rounds of medical equipment check, including visiting over nine departments at the Hospital. Took an active role in the planned preventive maintenance (PPM) of the magnetic resonance imaging(MRI).
Built troubleshooting and problem analysis skills in over the hundreds of maintenance activities done during my internship. Recommendation letter.
Projects
- Pitched Projects
- Practice Playground
Data science projects; including data wrangling, hands-on data analysis for metabolic profiling and other applications in Healthcare. Also, deep & machine learning implementation mostly using python.
Hardware and software implementation of a knee wearable device using Python and Arduino with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), showcased in Crete, Greece. (10th on list) and in Nyeri, Kenya.
Protype of an IoT software and hardware for automatic washroom door opening for physically challenged, pitched at KamiLimu. Documentation.
Pitching a medical app for fighting misinformation during the national RedBull Basement competitions 2021 in Kenya. One minute pitch video.
Hardware programming workshops, attachement projects, and class project on controlling a propeller, using Arduino.
Data structures & Algorithms implementations mostly using C++ and Python. And some unix bash scripting.
Community Engagement
IEEE
The world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.
EMBS
The world's largest international society of biomedical engineers that serves as a central gathering point for the intersection between engineering, medicine and biology.
Peer Counseling
A community of Kenyatta University students that offers free wellness services to peers in campus.
AIESEC
A global platform that provides young people with leadership development, cross-cultural internships, and global volunteer exchange experiences.
Toastmasters Gavel Club
An international nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking and leadership.
Chair 2023, IEEE Student Branch at Kenyatta University.
Cohort 7 Peer mentor at KamiLimu & Peer couselor at Kenyatta University.
Sr. Administrator 2023/24, EMBS Students Activity Committee (SAC) & EMBS Student Mentorship Program Ambassador 2022 & 2023.
Founding President 2022, Toastmaster Gavel at Kenyatta Univesity.
Incoming Global Volunteer Sales Manager at AIESEC, 2022.
Testimonials
What people I have worked with say about me.
We would be happy to extend an offer of formal employment to Antony if he were ever interested in working with us. We are confident that any supervisor would be lucky to manage such a talent who would be a true value add to any organisation.
Veronica George
Head of Operations, Talent-Bridge Africa.Throughout the challenge, Antony Gitau kept up a positive attitude and work ethic, which was appreciated by both team members and tech challenge coordinators.
Prof Karl Blanchet
Inzone Academic Director, University of Geneva.I'm sure you'll do very well in a graduate program.
Prof. Ciira Maina
Director, Center for Data Science & Artificial Intelligence(DSAIL).Research
Broadly speaking, my research interests are in building explainable machine learning algorithms that have an impact in healthcare. Currently, I am working on developing pose estimation model for orthopedic applications such as recovery monitoring. I am also learning foundational mathematics concepts for machine learning and practising implementing them in PyTorch and Tensorflow. To grasp the concepts, I am reading, I spend some time writing about the lessons I learn on my Medium page. Here is my Google Scholar profile.
Select Articles
[1] S. Bjørn-Jostein, A. M. Gitau, J. Markus Kreutzer , R. Johan, B. Lars Ailo, S. Henrik, Phonocardiogram Classification Using 1-Dimensional Inception Time Convolutional Neural Networks, Comput. In Card., 10.13140/RG.2.2.22956.13440, 2022, pp. 1-4.
Paper with code
IEEE: CinC proceeding
Poster
ReseachGate
Blog
[2] A.M. Gitau, C. Maina. (2022, April). NeeFlex: A wearable device for measuring knee flexion angles in rehabilitating patients.
Technical Report
Blog
Poster
Find Me
When I am not seated with my laptop on a desk building my science craftmanship, you can find me;
1. With friends, walking
on the mountains, singing CL songs, or exploring different
culture & places.
2. Reading a book, listening to an audiobook, or watching a documentary, on finance, health, entrepreneurship, wellbeing, founder's memoir, or any piece I find
enlightening and fun!
3. Playing checkers, chess, poker, or solving sudokus.
I love exploring new opportunities of learning and having fun. I'd love to hear your suggestions.