Rate My Professor Samuel Manda

Professor Samuel Manda is a statistician affiliated with the Sub-Saharan Africa Consortium for Advanced Biostatistics (SSACAB) at the Wits School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, where he serves as co-Principal Investigator. He holds a PhD in Statistics from the University of Waikato in New Zealand, an MSc in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Malawi. He is Professor and Head of the Department of Statistics at the University of Pretoria and previously served as Director of the Biostatistics Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. His research focuses on the development and application of Bayesian statistical methods, including spatial modelling, survival and longitudinal data analysis, small area estimation, causal inference, and the analysis of complex health datasets related to maternal and child health, HIV, non-communicable diseases, and COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa. He has contributed to national HIV surveillance efforts in South Africa and participates in technical working groups for African Union health research strategies. Manda maintains an active role in editorial boards, including as Associate Editor of the South African Statistical Journal and member of the editorial board for the Journal of Geospatial Health, and has co-edited volumes on modern biostatistical methods. He supervises numerous PhD students across institutions including the University of the Witwatersrand and holds a C2 rating from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.