Nomakhosi Ndiweni is a Zimbabwean student, currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Electronic Engineering at the University of Pretoria. She obtained a first class pass in her undergraduate degree in in Electronic Engineering, and proceeded under a Beit Trust Scholarship to the University of Leeds, where she obtained a master’s degree with distinction in Embedded Systems Engineering.
Her research and career goal is to help reduce maternal and infant mortality in under-resourced settings through early prediction and detection of pregnancy-related complications. A major step on this pathway is her PhD research, which seeks to develop a point-of-care testing system. The system will use sweat to measure glucose and protein levels in pregnant women and machine algorithms to predict pregnancy complications, including hemorrhaging and pre-eclampsia.
Nomakhosi believes women and children are the backbone of every society. Their health and wellbeing cannot be ignored. She dreams of a day where Sub-Saharan Africa’s maternal mortality rates are so low that no death of a woman will be recorded due to causes that could have been avoided through early diagnostics and prevention.
Nomakhosi gives back to her community by motivating and mentoring young girls to pursue science and engineering at tertiary level and to reach their full potential.
