It was a bit by chance that Fatou Lo Niang, a doctoral student in artificial intelligence (AI) applied to medicine, began to study computer science. With her baccalaureate in hand, in 2014, she was directed by the Ministry of Higher Education to the University of Bambey, approximately 130 kilometers east of Dakar, to pursue a degree in telecomputing networks and maintenance, then a master’s degree. in computer systems. Far from his first choices, which were medicine and biology. “I was passionate about natural sciences since I was little. I had difficulty accepting this choice that was imposed on me and I had difficulty adapting,” recalls the 30-year-old scientist, originally from Thiaroye Gare, in the suburbs of Dakar.
She then decides to use her training to return to her first love when choosing, in 2021, her dissertation subject. “I discovered that computer science was applicable to many fields, including medicine,” explains Fatou Lo Niang. She is looking at a cardiology patient management application at the Saint-Louis regional hospital. “I had to introduce AI into my dissertation. Using the data I had on patients, the idea was to predict the results to judge the usefulness of having a CT scan, which is an expensive test. The predictions were reliable, but we could not deploy the AI ??part because the hospital did not have the necessary server,” she explains.
Once graduated, she wanted to continue in research with a thesis on AI applied to cardiovascular diseases, in order to better prevent them. In Senegal, these diseases accounted for 17% of all deaths in 2018, according to the World Health Organization. “They are poorly taken care of,” laments the researcher. The idea is to reverse the trend using AI. » This time, she is supervised by the Gaston-Berger University of Saint-Louis, within the digital and computer analysis laboratory.
Improve knowledge of risk factors
“We want to deploy an application in which cardiologists will enter data from each patient in order to predict the risks of cardiovascular diseases and take care of them early, if necessary. For example, an individual may appear healthy even though he or she has already developed the beginnings of a stroke,” explains Fatou Lo Niang. Thanks to artificial intelligence, she hopes to be able to improve knowledge of risk factors and, therefore, identify prevention strategies to put in place. Because the scientist’s objective is to find concrete solutions for her country.
On the African continent, apart from certain English-speaking countries such as South Africa or Nigeria, the doctoral student observes that work on the use of AI in medicine is still limited, often restricted to the fight against cancer and malaria. “We don’t have African data, we have to base ourselves on those that come from Europe or the United States. But we can’t predict disease with data that doesn’t concern us! », Regrets Fatou Lo Niang.
A 2023 laureate of the L’Oréal Foundation, she found the necessary funding to collect data in different regions of Senegal on rheumatic heart disease – a disease present in developing or underdeveloped countries, which affects children aged 5 to 15 years. “We are already in collaboration with hospitals in Dakar and Saint-Louis, but we would also like to make collections from schools,” explains the doctoral student.
After her thesis, Fatou Lo Niang would like to continue doing research “so as not to be limited to [her] knowledge”. Dreams that her husband, Ismaila Diouf, listens to with admiration. “Being a woman and a scientist in Senegal is difficult, because it requires long years of study,” he assures. Although girls are the majority in primary and secondary education, they are less present at university, especially in master’s and doctoral studies. “She was able to adapt and bounce back while keeping her goal in mind,” summarizes Ismaila Diouf. Because, if she was not able to study medicine, Fatou Lo Niang intends to make her mark on Senegalese cardiology services.
