Pan-African Weekend: Meet the 2015 Young Africans Committed to Excellence

Geoffrey Henry Siwo

Nationality: Kenya
Current position(s): Founder, United Genomes Project, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Research Scientist, IBM Research (starting May 2015)
Education: Doctor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Topic of Interest: Technology, Africa and Medicine

Geoffrey Siwo is a computational biologist with key interests in the development of scalable solutions for genome medicine. As an undergraduate in Kenya, Geoffrey independently developed a novel hypothesis for HIV drug resistance through computational analysis of retrovirus-like sequences in the human genome, performing all the analysis at local internet cafes and later presenting the work at the American Society for Microbiology annual meeting on anti-microbial therapeutics. He has continued to pioneer the development of novel methods for decoding information in DNA. In 2011, he developed the top computational model for predicting expression of natural and engineered yeast ribosomal genes using DNA sequences in the IBM led Dialogue for Reverse Engineering Assessments and Methods (DREAM) challenges.

He leads the development of Fit2Cure- the first computer game that abstracts a fundamental step of drug discovery into a shape fitting game. He is a co-founder of Helix Nanotechnologies- a company developing a DNA based recording device that records information inside cells. He is currently based at Dartmouth Medical School where he is set to launch the first open source genetic database for African populations and educational platform for genome medicine. He is the recipient of several awards including an IBM PhD scholarship and a Young Investigator Award from Sage Bioinetworks.

Face2face Africa: What makes you proud to be an African?
Geoffrey Siwo: Africa is where our history as humans begun. It has extremely diverse cultures, languages, ecosystems and genetics. I believe Africa will play a vital role in the future of humanity.

F2FA: What inspired you to go in to your field?
GS: I have always been inspired by the power a computer and the internet can place in the hands of a person with a powerful idea. In my first year as an undergraduate (in a University that few know of outside Kenya), I learnt firsthand the power of computers in helping test my ideas in biology and compete with top experts in the world.

F2FA: What do you see as the way forward for Africa to fulfill its potential?
GS: Africa must embrace fast growing technologies. It already has with mobile phones. It must do it with the others- the internet, robotics, biotechnology and nanotechnology. These technologies will steer Africa to solutions to its top challenges in health, agriculture and energy. They will help Africa- the origin of mankind- define our future. Africa’s rising young population will have the opportunity to bring these ideas to reality.

F2FA: How important is home grown innovation to reaching this end?
GS: No one understands African problems more than Africans themselves. To this end, lasting solutions to health, agriculture and energy can only be reached through participation of people in Africa. Not just as consumers but as developers of the solutions. That said, Africa’s homegrown solutions are not only for Africa. While entrepreneurs should start with providing local solutions, they must remember that the world is their market.

F2FA: With Africa soon having the largest youth population in the world, what can governments and communities across the continent do to properly engage and stimulate the youth and effectively harness their power, energy, and creativity?
GS: African governments need to place more direct investment in capacity building in technical areas. We need an environment that encourages private companies to invest in startups within Africa. We need to remain open to failure by entrepreneurs in Africa so they can take on tough challenges without fear of failure.

F2FA: What advice would you give to young people about finding their life’s purpose and path?
GS: Passion is the most important thing you need to have. It is the thing that will keep you going after your idea when everything else seems to have deserted you. It will help overcome any obstacles you may experience. It will make you get to your success because with it, you will go beyond what everyone else can. While passion alone is not enough for your success, it will help you figure out anything else you will need. So, for a young person, figure out whatever you are passionate about first.

F2FA: What are you looking to accomplish that you haven’t accomplished yet?
GS: Over 95% of the world’s knowledge on the role of our genes in diseases comes from Europe and America. My plan is to change this.

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