Dr. Paulina Onvomaha Tindana

Dr. Paulina Tindana is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Public Health. Her teaching and research focus on the ethical, social, cultural and policy issues in public health, global health research and health systems research. With academic training in bioethics, she has published extensively on bioethics and research ethics topics, particularly the practical ethical issues arising in genetic/genomic research and biobanking in Africa. She has contributed to several international and Consortia ethics guidelines and reports including the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Report. Research in Global Health Emergencies: Ethical Issues (2020), Pregnant Women and Vaccines Against Emerging Epidemic threats: Ethics guidelines for preparedness, Research and Response (2019), Ethics and Governance Framework for Best Practice in Genomic Research and Biobanking in Africa (2018), the H3Africa informed consent guidelines, community engagement guidelines, Feedback of Findings Policy and Framework on Best Practices in Genomics and Biobanking in Africa. She has also facilitated training workshops on global health ethics and community engagement and mentored several masters and PhD students to undertake research on health policy, health systems, monitoring and evaluation and research ethics related topics.

Prior to joining the University in August 2018, she was a Deputy Chief Health Research Officer at the Navrongo Health Research Centre, Ghana Health Service in northern Ghana. She worked there for over 20 years, conducting social science and empirical ethics research, supporting the research ethics review process, contributing to the development of standard operating procedures, facilitating training workshops for researchers and members of research ethics committees and community engagement activities.

Academic Qualification

• Doctor of Philosophy (Public Health), 2013, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
• Master of Health Sciences (Bioethics), 2004, University of Toronto, Canada
• Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), 1999, University of Ghana

Teaching and Research interests

• Bioethics
• Global health
• International research ethics
• Health systems research ethics
• Community engagement in global health research
• Non-communicable Diseases
• Genomics and Biobanking

Teaching

Undergraduate
• BPH - Level 200: Introduction to Public Health Ethics (GSPH 213)
• BPH- Level 400: Public Health Ethics (GSPH 415)

Postgraduate

• MSc PH M&E: Ethics in Monitoring and Evaluation (MOEV 606)
• MPH: Health Legislation (HPPM 652): Regular, Weekend and Sandwich programmes
• PhD: Leadership in Public Health (HPPM 705): 4-hour seminar on Public Health Ethics

RESEARCH GRANTS

Current/ongoing projects (2018 to date)
• NIH U54 Grant: 1U54HG010275-01 (MPIs: Ghansah and Tindana): Community Engagement in Biobanking and Genomics (CEBioGen) 2018 – 2022 (4 years) Role: Principal Investigator
• H3Africa: AAS/AESA (PI: Ngwa): Genetic interactions between human populations and malaria parasites in different environmental settings across Africa. 2018-2022 (4 Years): Role: Co-investigator and Ethics and Community Engagement Lead
• NIH U54 Grant: 2U54HG006938 (PI: Ramsay): Project Title: Genomic and environmental risk factors for cardiometabolic disease in Africans (AWI-Gen 2) 2017-2022 (5 Years) Role: Community Engagement Lead
Membership of Boards/Committees (2015-date)
• Member: University of Ghana College of Health Sciences Academic Board:2018-date
• Member: Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee: 2019-date
• Member: UK Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Group on Research in Global Health Emergencies: ethical issues.  (2018-2020)                                                                                                      
• Member: Board of Directors: International Association of Bioethics (IAB) 2015-present
• Member: UNESCO International Bioethics Committee (IBC) 2014-Present
• Chair: H3Africa Community Engagement Working Group (CEWG) 2015-2018
• Member: Navrongo Health Research Centre Institutional Review Board (IRB) 2004-2018
• Member: Board of Directors, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) 2005-2015

AWARDS AND HONORS

Global Forum for Bioethics Research (GFBR) Paper Award 2020. ‘The award recognises an individual’s contribution to the field of research ethics. It aims to advance the individual’s career by disseminating their research and raising their profile within their institution, nationally and internationally’. https://www.gfbr.global/news/gfbr-paper-award-winner/

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

Tindana P and Wasunna C: Chapter 17. Evaluating genetic and genomic research proposals in Africa. Research Ethics in Africa: A Resource for Research Ethics Committees 2014:125. SunPress

Selected Journal articles
• Tindana P, Ramsay M, Klipstein-Grobusch K, Amoakoh-Coleman. Advancing non-communicable diseases research in Ghana: key stakeholders’ recommendations from a symposium. Ghana Med J 2020; 54(2): 121-125
• Tindana P, Cornelius Debpuur, Jantina de Vries, Janet Seeley, Michael Parker:  Consent in genomics and Biobanking: Taking feedback of findings seriously. Global Bioethics 2020
• Wright, K., Parker, M., Bhattacharya, S. Blanchet, K.,Caney, S., Chan, E., Thome, B., Guerin, P., Hughes, J., Kingori, P., Larson, H., Moses, S., Sekalala, S., Sheather, J., Tindana, P. In emergencies, health research must go beyond public engagement toward a true partnership with those affected. Nat Med (2020).
• Tindana PO, de Vries J and Kamuya D. Ethical challenges in community engagement practices in research during the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. AAS Open Res 2020, 3:23
• Tindana, P., Yakubu, A., Staunton, C. et al. Engaging research ethics committees to develop an ethics and governance framework for best practices in genomic research and biobanking in Africa: the H3Africa model. BMC Med Ethics 20, 69 (2019).
• Tindana P, Molyneux S, Bull S, Parker M. ‘It is an entrustment’: Broad consent for genomic research and biobanks in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing World Bioeth. 2019; 19: 9–17.
• Tindana P, Campbell M, Marshall P, Seeley J, Vincent R, Littler K, de Vries J, Kamuya D: Developing the science and methods of community engagement for genomics and biobanking in Africa.  Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics, 2. doi:10.1017/gheg.2017.9
• Tindana P and de Vries J. Broad consent for Genomic Research: Perspectives from Low and Middle in Come Countries. Annu Rev Genomics Hum Genet. 2016 Feb 22
• Tindana P, de Vries J, Campbell M, Littler K, Seeley J, Marshall P, Troyer J, Ogundipe M, Alibu VP, Yakubu A et al: Community engagement strategies for genomic studies in Africa: a review of the literature. BMC Med Ethics 2015, 16(1):24.
• Tindana P, Molyneux CS, Bull S, Parker M: Ethical issues in the export, storage and reuse of human biological samples in biomedical research: perspectives of key stakeholders in Ghana and Kenya. BMC Med Ethics 2014, 15:76.
• Tindana P, Bull S, Amenga-Etego L, de Vries J, Aborigo R, Koram K, Kwiatkowski D, Parker M: Seeking consent to genetic and genomic research in a rural Ghanaian setting: a qualitative study of the MalariaGEN experience. BMC Med Ethics 2012, 13:15.
• Tindana PO, Rozmovits L, Boulanger RF, Bandewar SV, Aborigo RA, Hodgson AV, Kolopack P, Lavery JV: Aligning community engagement with traditional authority structures in global health research: a case study from northern Ghana. Am J Public Health 2011, 101(10):1857-1867.
• Tindana PO, Singh JA, Tracy CS, Upshur RE, Daar AS, Singer PA, Frohlich J, Lavery JV: Grand challenges in global health: community engagement in research in developing countries. PLoS Med 2007, 4(9):e273.
• Tindana P, Kass N, Akweongo P: The Informed consent process in a Rural African Setting: A Case Study of the Kassena-Nankana district of Northern Ghana. IRB: Ethics &Human Research 2006, 28(3).
• Carleigh B. Krubiner, Ruth R. Faden, Ruth A. Karron, Margaret O. Little, Anne D. Lyerly, Jon S. Abramson, Richard H. Beigi, Alejandro R. Cravioto, Anna P. Durbin, Bruce G. Gellin, Swati B. Gupta, David C. Kaslow, Sonali Kochhar, Florencia Luna, Carla Saenz, Jeanne S. Sheffield, Paulina O. Tindana. Pregnant women & vaccines against emerging epidemic threats: Ethics guidance for preparedness, research, and response, Vaccine.2019.01.011.
• Rwamahe Rutakumwa, Jantina de Vries, Michael Parker, Paulina Tindana, Oliver Mweemba & Janet Seeley (2019) What constitutes good ethical practice in genomic research in Africa? Perspectives of participants in a genomic research study in Uganda, Global Bioethics, DOI: 10.1080/11287462.2019.1592867
• Oliver Mweemba, John Musuku, Bongani M. Mayosi, Michael Parker, Rwamahe Rutakumwa, Janet Seeley, Paulina Tindana & Jantina De Vries (2019) Use of broad consent and related procedures in genomics research: Perspectives from research participants in the Genetics of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHDGen) study in a University Teaching Hospital in Zambia, Global Bioethics, DOI: 10.1080/11287462.2019.1592868
• Yakubu A, Tindana P, Matimba A et al. Model framework for governance of genomic research and biobanking in Africa – a content description [version 2; peer review: 3 approved]. AAS Open Res 2018, 1:13 (https://doi.org/10.12688/aasopenres.12844.2)
• Staunton C, Tindana P, Hendricks M, Moodley K. Rules of Engagement: stakeholder perspectives on community engagement for genomic and Biobanking in South Afric. BMC Medical Ethics 2018.19(1): 13.
• Stuart A. Ali, Cassandra Soo, Godfred Agongo, Marianne Alberts, Lucas Amenga-Etego, Romuald P. Boua, Ananyo Choudhury, Nigel J. Crowther, Cornelius Depuur, F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé, Issa Guiraud, Tilahun N. Haregu, Scott Hazelhurst, Kathleen Kahn, Christopher Khayeka-Wandabwa, Catherine Kyobutungi, Zané Lombard, Felistas Mashinya, Lisa Micklesfield, Shukri F. Mohamed, Freedom Mukomana, Seydou Nakanabo-Diallo, Hamtandi M. Natama, Nicholas Ngomi, Engelbert A. Nonterah, Shane A. Norris, Abraham R. Oduro, Athanase M. Somé, Hermann Sorgho, Paulina Tindana, Halidou Tinto, Stephen Tollman, Rhian Twine, Alisha Wade, Osman Sankoh & Michèle Ramsay. Genomic and environmental risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases in Africa: methods used for Phase 1 of the AWI-Gen population cross-sectional study. Global Health Action. 2018;11:1507133.
• de Vries J, Munung NS and Tindana P. Deliberation to promote shared sovereignty in health research: four questions to clarify goals, methods and scope. The American Journal of Bioethics, 16(10): 1–3, 2016
• Awoonor-Williams J, Tindana P, Dalingjong P, Nartey, H, Akazili J. Does the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Ghana align with Primary Health Care? Perspectives of key stakeholders in northern Ghana. BMC International Health and Human Rights (96) 2016
• Ramsay, M., N. Crowther, E. Tambo, G. Agongo, V. Baloyi, S. Dikotope, X. Gómez-Olivé, ...Pillay V , Somande AM, P Tindana [… ] Sankoh, O. "H3Africa AWI-Gen Collaborative Centre: a resource to study the interplay between genomic and environmental risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases in four sub-Saharan African countries." Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics 1 (2016).
• J. de Vries, K. Littler, A. Matimba, S. McCurdy, O. Ouwe Missi Oukem-Boyer, J. Seeley and P. Tindana (2016). Evolving perspectives on broad consent for genomics research and biobanking in Africa. Report of the Second H3Africa Ethics Consultation Meeting, 11 May 2015. Global Health, Epidemiology and Genomics, 1, e13 doi:10.1017/gheg.2016.5.
• de Vries J, Tindana P, Littler K, Ramsay M, Rotimi C, Abayomi A, Mulder N, Mayosi BM: The H3Africa policy framework: negotiating fairness in genomics. Trends Genet 2015, 31(3):117-119.
• de Vries J, Abayomi A, Littler K, Madden E, McCurdy S, Oukem-Boyer OOM, Seeley J, Staunton C, Tangwa G, Tindana P: Addressing ethical issues in H3Africa research–the views of research ethics committee members. Hugo J 2015, 1(9):1-4.
• Kamau E, Campino S, Amenga-Etego L, Drury E, Ishengoma D, Johnson K, Mumba D, Kekre M, Yavo W, Mead D....Tindana P, .... et al: K13-Propeller Polymorphisms in Plasmodium falciparum Parasites From Sub-Saharan Africa. J Infect Dis 2015, 211(8):1352-1355.
• Munung NS, Marshall P, Campbell M, Littler K, Masiye F, Ouwe-Missi-Oukem-Boyer O, Seeley J, Stein D, Tindana P and de Vries J.. Obtaining informed consent for genomics research in Africa: Analysis of H3Africa consent documents. J Med Ethics. 2015; 0:1-6.
• Ghansah A, Amenga-Etego L, Amambua-Ngwa A, Andagalu B, Apinjoh T, Bouyou-Akotet M, Cornelius V, Golassa L, Andrianaranjaka VH, Ishengoma D, ...Tindana P, ...et al: Monitoring parasite diversity for malaria elimination in sub-Saharan Africa. Science 2014, 345(6202):1297-1298.
• Aborigo RA, Allotey P, Tindana P, Azongo D, Debpuur C: Cultural imperatives and the ethics of verbal autopsies in rural Ghana. Glob Health Action 2013, 6:18570.
• Lavery JV, Tindana PO, Scott TW, Harrington LC, Ramsey JM, Ytuarte-Nunez C, James AA: Towards a framework for community engagement in global health research. Trends Parasitol 2010, 26(6):279-283.
• Nyika A, Kilama W, Tangwa GB, Chilengi R, Tindana P: Capacity building of ethics review committees across Africa based on the results of a comprehensive needs assessment survey. Dev World Bioeth 2009, 9(3):149-156.
• Nyika A, Kilama W, Chilengi R, Tangwa G, Tindana P, Ndebele P, Ikingura J: Composition, training needs and independence of ethics review committees across Africa: are the gate-keepers rising to the emerging challenges? J Med Ethics 2009, 35(3):189-193.
• Upshur R, Lavery J, Tindana P: Taking Tissues seriously means taking communities seriously. BMC (Medical Ethics) 2007, 26:8-11.
• Kass NE, Hyder AA, Ajuwon A, Appiah-Poku J, Barsdorf N, Elsayed DE, Mokhachane M, Mupenda B, Ndebele P, Ndossi G...Tindana P,  et al: The structure and function of research ethics committees in Africa: a case study. PLoS Med 2007, 4(1):e3.
• Dickert N, DeRiemer K, Duffy PE, Garcia-Garcia L, Mutabingwa TK, Sina BJ, Tindana P, Lie R: Ancillary-care responsibilities in observational research: two cases, two issues. Lancet 2007, 369(9564):874-877.
• Sugarman J, Abayage P, Aborigo R, ................, Tindana P, al. E: Ethical oversight of multinational collborative research: lessons from Africa for building capacity and for policy. Research Ethics Review 2007, 3(3):84-86.