PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Mbithe Nzomo

Mbithe Nzomo is a computer scientist whose research links ontologies, machine learning, and Bayesian networks with health monitoring and explainable disease-risk prediction. She studied Informatics at Strathmore, worked in software engineering and technology consulting, earned an MSc in Advanced Computer Science at Manchester, and began a Computer Science PhD at UCT in 2021. Her work maps sensor-based health systems and develops semantic architectures for health monitoring; her 2024 paper wins Best Student Paper at AAAI’s Health Intelligence workshop. She served as a World Bank Group Africa Fellow through June 2026 and, as of October 2026, is a PhD Fellow at UCT researching precision health.

Badges

Timeline

  1. 2012–2019

    Informatics and software engineering

    She completes a BSc in Informatics at Strathmore University in 2016 after starting the degree in 2012. She works as a software engineer at Andela from 2016 to 2018 and earns an MSc in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Manchester in 2019.

  2. 2019–2021

    Emerging technologies at EY

    At EY, she is a Senior Business Analyst in Emerging Technologies from 2019 to 2021. She leads an analysis of financial data from 220 government facilities across 25 counties in Kenya.

  3. Since 2021

    Hybrid AI for precision health

    In 2021, she joins the University of Cape Town as a PhD Fellow in Computer Science under Deshen Moodley. Her research topic is a hybrid AI framework for data fusion, situation analysis, and decision support toward precision health, integrating ontologies and knowledge graphs with machine learning and Bayesian networks for explainable health-risk prediction.

  4. 2023–2025

    Mapping sensor-based health systems

    She and Deshen Moodley submit a systematic mapping study in 2023 and revise it in 2025 to cover 48 sensor-based personal health monitoring systems. The study assesses seven challenges, including explainability and uncertainty, and proposes a reference architecture.

  5. 2024

    A health monitoring architecture

    At AAAI-24’s 8th International Workshop on Health Intelligence in 2024, she presents a paper titled “A Semantic Architecture for Continuous Health Monitoring, Risk Prediction, and Proactive Decision Making” with her supervisor Deshen Moodley. The paper wins the workshop’s Best Student Paper award.

  6. 2024

    L’Oréal-UNESCO Young Talents Award

    In December 2024, she becomes one of 30 laureates of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa Young Talents Award. The program selects its laureates from 788 applicants.

  7. 2025–June 2026

    World Bank Group Africa Fellow

    From 2025 to June 2026, she serves as a World Bank Group Africa Fellow and consultant at the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Centre on Forced Displacement. In Uganda, she studies malaria vulnerability and incidence among refugees and non-refugees using statistical analysis and predictive modelling. Her 2025 paper builds Bayesian networks from ontology-based knowledge graphs and multimodal electronic health records for explainable disease-risk prediction.

  8. As of October 2026

    PhD research and health prediction

    As of October 2026, she is a PhD Fellow in Computer Science at the University of Cape Town, with a research topic in hybrid AI for precision health. In 2026, she publishes a systematic mapping study in Semantic Web and presents a hybrid-CNN study of ECG-based atrial-fibrillation episode prediction at the 35th International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks.

Career

  1. 2025–2026World Bank GroupAfrica Fellow
  2. 2025–2026World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Centre on Forced DisplacementConsultant
  3. 2019–2021Ernst & YoungSenior Business Analyst
  4. 2016–2018AndelaSoftware Engineer

Education

  1. From 2021University of Cape TownPhD
  2. 2019University of ManchesterMSc in Advanced Computer Science
  3. 2016Strathmore UniversityBSc in Informatics

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Manchester. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Manchester. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Manchester. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Manchester. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Mbithe Nzomo mbithenzomo.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Mbithe Nzomo | School of Information Technology sit.uct.ac.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Mbithe Nzomo mbithenzomo.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Semantic web technologies in sensor-based personal health monitoring systems: A systematic mapping study arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Mbithe Nzomo awarded Best Student Paper at 8th International Workshop on Health Intelligence (W3PHIAI-24) | CAIR cair.org.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Dr Irene Nandutu and Mbithe Nzomo awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Award | School of Information Technology sit.uct.ac.za. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Integrating Knowledge Graphs and Bayesian Networks: A Hybrid Approach for Explainable Disease Risk Prediction arxiv.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Mbithe Nzomo mbithenzomo.github.io. Checked 21 October 2026.