Health Systems & Research Ethics

Bio

Vicki is a senior social science and public health researcher in the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya, based in the Department for Public Health Research. She is also a University Research Lecturer in the Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health in the Nuffield Department of Medicine, and Research Associate at the Ethox Centre (Centre for Ethics), Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford University. Trained in Medicine and General Practice in the UK, she has worked in Kenya since 1990. She was a paediatric medical officer in Kilifi District General Hospital between 1990 and 1994, and worked extensively on malaria home management in Kenya between 1995 and 2005, including piloting, developing and evaluating a role for private medicine retailers within the Kenya National Malaria Control Strategy. Prior to this, between 1982 and 1985, she worked at the UK MRC laboratories in The Gambia. Vicki is an active member of Programme committees that supports strategic planning around ethical issues that emerge during research across the Programme. She contributes to social science and research ethics training at the Centre for early-to-mid career scientists, front-line staff and community representatives.

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Current Work

Vicki’s current research and operational interests concern understanding, and strengthening policy around, social and ethical aspects of international collaborative health research conducted in low-income settings. Specific areas of focus include community engagement, informed consent, benefit sharing, provider-patient communication, ancillary care responsibilities and data sharing. Her work is particularly influenced by an interest in drawing on empirical approaches to normative analysis; her doctoral thesis was based on addressing social and ethical issues in sharing research-generated genetic findings using community consultation methods.

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Recent publications

Ethical considerations around volunteer payments in a malaria human infection study in Kenya: an embedded empirical ethics study.
Chi, P. C., Owino, E. A., Jao, I., Bejon, P., Kapulu, M., Marsh, V., Kamuya, D.
BMC Med Ethics, (2022). 23:46

Undertaking Community Engagement for a Controlled Human Malaria Infection Study in Kenya: Approaches and Lessons Learnt.
Mumba, N., Njuguna, P., Chi, P., Marsh, V., Awuor, E., Hamaluba, M., Mauncho, C., Mwalukore, S., Masha, J., Mwangoma, M., Kalama, B., Alphan, H., Wambua, J., Bejon, P., Kamuya, D., Kapulu, M. C.
Front Public Health, (2022). 10:793913

Vulnerability, Agency, and the Research Encounter: Family Members' Experiences and Perceptions of Participating in an Observational Clinical Study in Kenya.
Zakayo, S. M., Kimani, M. N., Sanga, G., Njeru, R., Charo, A., Berkley, J. A., Walson, J. L., Kelley, M., Marsh, V., Molyneux, S.
J Empir Res Hum Res Ethics, (2021). 16:238-254

Applying a gender lens to understand pathways through care for acutely ill young children in Kenyan urban informal settlements.
Muraya, K., Ogutu, M., Mwadhi, M., Mikusa, J., Okinyi, M., Magawi, C., Zakayo, S., Njeru, R., Haribondhu, S., Uddin, M. F., Marsh, V., Walson, J. L., Berkley, J., Molyneux, S.
Int J Equity Health, (2021). 20:17

Understanding the benefits and burdens associated with a malaria human infection study in Kenya: experiences of study volunteers and other stakeholders.
Chi, P. C., Owino, E. A., Jao, I., Olewe, F., Ogutu, B., Bejon, P., Kapulu, M., Kamuya, D., Marsh, V., CHMI-SIKA Study Team
Trials, (2021). 22:494