In 2018, the government of Rwanda through the Ministry of Health in partnership with IRCAD France, a global institution dedicated to advancing and teaching minimally invasive surgery, embarked on a new journey to establish an IRCAD center in Kigali.

The partnership aims to improve and advance surgery in Africa by closing the technology and knowledge gap in the field of research and training.

The IRCAD Africa center, set to be unveiled in 2021, will allow African surgeons to access some of the best training programs in surgery and more precisely in minimally invasive surgery with some of the world-renowned experts who have been partnering with IRCAD for over 25 years.

David Kamanda, the Managing Director of IRCAD Africa confided that since 2019 IRCAD Africa has been operational from its temporary offices in Kigali City Center. Currently, IRCAD Africa’s activities are mainly focused on research and development (R&D) in automated 3D modeling from medical images, modeling in surgical planning and software, as well as augmented reality.

IRCAD Africa is very fortunate to have great universities such as the University of Rwanda, Carnegie Mellon University Africa (CMU-Africa), and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in Kigali, which have made it possible to recruit talented engineers in a smooth and easy process.

As for the center itself, the construction of the IRCAD Africa center started in the sector of Masaka in the summer of 2019 and it is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2021. The completion of the center will be followed by the inauguration and opening of the first ever IRCAD Institute on the African continent. The IRCAD Africa team looks forward to hosting surgeons and engineers from around the continent and the world in the fall of 2021.

Speaking to The New Times in an exclusive interview, IRCAD Africa Vice President Dr. Guillaume Marescaux said that establishing IRCAD Africa in Rwanda was a "no-brainer” as the country offers a really propitious environment. Additionally, the institution’s aspirations are in line with the country’s vision in terms of innovation and health.

"Africa has continuously proven to be the source of future experts in science. So far, we have been very impressed with all the talented surgeons and engineers we have worked with from Rwanda and around the continent. This has been very encouraging as we are working on building the largest artificial intelligence (AI) research team in Africa.”

A boost to Research & Development

According to Dr. Alexandre Hostettler, Head of the IRCAD Surgical Data Science Team (R&D), IRCAD Africa opens doors to every artificial intelligence engineer interested in developing health applications of artificial intelligence.

Dr. Alexandre Hostettler oversees the entire IRCAD Surgical Data Science Team, with one part of the team based in Strasbourg and the other part in Kigali.

He revealed that IRCAD France and IRCAD Africa are currently working on launching one of the largest IRCAD R&D projects to date. The project will open multiple opportunities for artificial intelligence engineers intending to work in the healthcare sector or to further their education by conducting research through PhD opportunities.

"Today, we are looking for two qualifications, engineers specialized in AI with a good knowledge of C++”. C++ is a programming language that computer scientists use to create high performance applications.

Rwandan student shares experience

Rogers Mizero, a surgical data scientist engineer at IRCAD Africa and an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU-Africa), stressed that working with IRCAD Africa has been a thrilling experience so far.

"I did my undergraduate program in Electronics and Telecommunications at the University of Rwanda, and I completed my Master’s in Information Technology (IT) in Software Engineering and Data Science at CMU-Africa where I majored”.

"The experience has so far been smooth, and IRCAD promotes continuous learning. The application of artificial intelligence in medical projects is relatively new in Rwanda so there is a lot to learn, and I am still learning. We have a team of experienced engineers who support us and drive us to become better on a daily basis.”

Mizero’s current work focuses on python development, and integrations of algorithms that the team develops.

The construction is under the partnership between the Government of Rwanda and IRCAD Africa with the aim of developing a Centre in Rwanda. / Craish Bahizi

Ongoing construction activities of the center which will do research on digestive cancer at Masaka Kicukiro District on November. / Craish Bahizi