Investigating side effects in chemotherapy in Rwandan population

COLLABORATION. Meet Alexis Rugamba, one of the ambitious doctoral students from Rwanda currently working on his doctorate at the University of Gothenburg. His research investigates why side effects are more common in populations on the African continent for a common chemotherapy treatment.

Alexis Rugamba, age 34, pursued undergraduate studies in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Rwanda and earned his Master’s of Sciences in Medicine, Major of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Konkuk University, South Korea. He has just started his doctoral studies at the University of Gothenburg, with Sofia Birgersson as his supervisor.

“The program allows me to conduct my work both in Sweden and in Rwanda, where I collect data. I can be with my family while obtaining an excellent doctoral education at a very good university,” says Rugamba.

He is very satisfied with the doctoral education he receives at the University of Gothenburg, and he appreciates interacting with colleagues he has met during his time in Sweden.

“As a foreigner, I have been well taken care of. The people are friendly and make me feel at home. The researchers here are always willing to provide instruction and guidance.”

Loves teaching

His thesis project focuses on paclitaxel, the chemotherapy drug used to treat a variety of cancers, including ovarian, breast, and cervical cancer. Paclitaxel is used around the world. Like all chemotherapy, the treatment has side effects, which are much more common in the African population than in Caucasians, this is due to genetic variation in metabolic enzymes frequently seen in Africa.

Teaching is Rugamba’s passion, and he wants to continue working as a teacher at the University of Rwanda in a few years when he completes his doctorate. He wants his research to contribute to the large number of clinical trials now being started at the university:

“In the last five years alone, the university has developed tremendously, with a significant increase in the number of PhDs and active research projects. I want to help build the capacity of students through all the things I learn as a doctoral student here.”

Dark history but bright future

Rugamba was born in southern Rwanda, in the Nyanza district. As a child, he lost almost his entire family in the 1994 genocide, when almost a million people were killed in a matter of months. Out of a family of six children, only he, the youngest, and his mother survived. Though that genocide is an unimaginably cruel part of Rwanda’s modern history, Rugamba insists that he is not burdened by it. Instead it fuels his own commitment to help contribute to the country’s reconstruction. He enjoys being with his own family, his wife and two young children, and describes his homeland as peaceful. Inter-ethnic strife has subsided, and the population is united by a belief in the future.

“Rwanda is a lush and clean country, where peace and security have been restored. The economy is growing, and there a distinction is no longer made between different ethnic groups,” says Rugamba.

BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM