Tania Douglas

Tania S. Douglas is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering and Innovation as well as Director of the Medical Imaging Research Unit in the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa. She conduct research concerning medical innovation, image analysis, and the development of technologies to improve medical device innovation in South Africa. She is also the founding Editor-in-Chief of Global Health Innovation, a journal which disseminates research results about health innovation in developing settings.

Early life and education

Douglas is the daughter of Aubrey Douglas, a high school principal, and Rita Douglas. She attended Pacaltsdorp High in George, Western Cape.[1] She earned a bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronic engineering in the University of Cape Town (UCT). She completed her master's degree in Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, in Biomedical Engineering. She then continued in a postgraduate doctoral degree in Bioengineering in the University of Strathclyde, Scotland. She finished her education with a master of business administration (MBA) in the University of Cape Town. She is a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.[2]

Research and career

After her studies, Douglas completed a research fellowship in image processing at the Japan Broadcasting Corporation in Tokyo from January 1999 until August 2000. She then started teaching at UCT (University of Cape Town) in 2000 in the Biomedical Engineering department and became convenor of the Biomedical Engineering Program in 2007. In 2008 she was a Humboldt Research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne, as well as in the free University of Berlin and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London. In 2010, she became Director of the Medical Imaging Research Unit[3] and in 2013 Deputy Dean of the UCT Research in the Faculty of Health Sciences. She was elected South African Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering & Innovation in 2016.

She worked on several projects on health technology innovation at universities in Africa, including “Developing Innovation Interdisciplinary Biomedical Engineering Programs” in Africa with the North-western University and Universities of Lagos and Ibadan, as well as “African Biomedical Engineering Mobility” with Kenyatta University, Cairo University, Addis Ababa University, the Mbarara University of Science and Technology, the University of Lagos and the University of Pisa.

Douglas is Editor-in-Chief of Global Health Innovation, a research journal for a non-profit organisation which designs, implements and manages programs which develop life-saving solutions.[4] The journal launched in 2018, and in the same year, she gave a TED Talk titled "To design better tech, understand context."[5] She regularly carries out research on methods of helping underdeveloped countries with biomedical techniques. She has participated in the publishing of more than 120 articles,[6] and gives talks about biomedical innovation[7][8] and about women in leadership roles.[9]

Awards and recognition

In 2015, Douglas was awarded the SARCHI Chair in Biomendical Engineering and Innovation.[10][11] In 2016, along with Jill Fortuin, she received the NRF Community Engagement Award.[12] In 2018 she was elected a member of the Quartz Africa Innovators,[13] a group of 30 African thinkers.

References
  1. "Update: Prof Douglas does George proud".. George Herald, 11 July 2013
  2. "Personal Profile – Tania Douglas". African Biomedical Engineering Consortium. Retrieved 28 October 2018.
  3. "Investigating violence against pregnant women in South Africa" Umthombo - Times Higher Education, page 9.
  4. "Tania Douglas". The Conversation. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  5. Douglas, Tania (August 2017). "To design better tech, understand context". TED. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. "Nanotechnology: An industry taking off in SA". Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT, December 18th, 2018
  7. "Using “Responsible Innovation” To Improve Global Health". University of Central Florida website, 01.28.2019
  8. "Message from the Director". Trinity College Dublin News, Issue 4, May 2010.
  9. "NMMU George celebrates Women’s Day with “home-grown” inspiration". Nelson Mandala University News, 08/08/2014
  10. "ASSAf Members in the News". ASSAf Newsletter, 25 September 2015
  11. "SARChI Chair awarded to Tania Douglas". University of Cape Town, Division of Biomedical Engineering. 2 Sep 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  12. "Tania Douglas and Jill Fortuin receive NRF Community Engagement Awards". University of Cape Town, Division of Biomedical Engineering. 13 Dec 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  13. Quartz Staff (20 September 2018). "Africa Innovators 2018: A list of 30 pioneers". Quartz Africa. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
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