My name is Nakamyuka Rashidah and I’m currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Pharmacology at Makerere University. So far as a beneficiary of the Universal Capacity Building Project, I have had the privilege of attending a training on the Application of Pharmacokinetics in Clinical practice and this was very insightful. I look forward to more of such trainings.

Award: My research project is being funded by the UNIVERSAL Student Research Capacity Building project through Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Uganda. I am greatly privileged to be a beneficiary of this grant as it will enable me to complete my research and my Master’s degree in Pharmacology.

Project: The title of my research is Model-Based Prediction of Dolutegravir Dose Requirement for HIV-exposed Neonates in Uganda. This research lies in the field of population pharmacokinetics modelling and simulations. I’m being mentored through the project by Dr. Jackson Mukonzo and Dr. Aida Kawuma from Makerere University Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. I have also had the opportunity of being supervised by Dr. Amuge Pauline from Baylor Uganda who has guided me in the development of my proposal so far.

Expected Impact of my project: My study will involve the development of a dolutegravir population pharmacokinetics model for Ugandan infants and children aged 0 to <3 years and this can be used for future predictive studies in this population. The findings from this study will provide information on the pharmacokinetics properties and initial study dose of dolutegravir for Ugandan neonates which can guide future clinical trials in this population.

Area of Interests: I have an interest in pharmacokinetics studies, especially those involving population pharmacokinetics modelling. I’m currently focusing on dosage optimization of drugs used for the treatment of infectious diseases among different populations.