Milka Madahana, from Kenya, is pursuing her doctorate in Engineering, with Application of Engineering to Medicine, at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her PhD thesis focuses on medical technologies applied to lung function of infants and children. In future, she aims to simplify medical equipment in general and make it more widely available to women and children in rural and disadvantaged populations. She is also eyeing the potential for engineering technology to open new job opportunities for women, including via the use of artificial intelligence in the typically male-dominated field of mining.
Both in her personal and professional life, Milka has shown a commitment to women and children. She saw early on how women were often at a disadvantage, especially in receiving healthcare. Later, while studying engineering, she noticed enrolled women rarely finished the program. To counter that, she started a mentoring program for young females who were struggling academically, which helped increased retention of female engineers over the years. As a volunteer, she coordinated and fundraised for a care center and built a computer lab for women and children in Johannesburg.
Milka is one of only a few women in her field of study and specialization and has demonstrated exceptional research productivity: She has published in 13 peer-reviewed journals and alone is responsible for ten percent of the total research output of the University’s School of Electrical Engineering.
