It is with deep sadness that we share the news of the death of Dr Banyana Madi-Segwagwe who was a Research Fellow in the School of Health Sciences between 2019 and 2022. Banyana died unexpectedly after a short illness.
Banyana’s early career was as a nurse and midwife in Botswana. In choosing to follow an academic route and undertaking an MSc and PhD in Advanced Midwifery practice, Banyana gained a prestigious Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship. Following completion of that Fellowship Banyana worked on the Maternal Mortality Programme Assessment (IMMPACT) initiative at the University of Aberdeen. Following a move back to Botswana in 2007, Banyana commenced working as a Technical Advisor for Policy Development for HIV, Sexual Reproductive Health, Malaria and Tuberculosis for the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an Intergovernmental organisation made up of 16 countries in Southern Africa. In this role Banyana collaborated with international organisations such as WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank.
On moving back to the UK, Banyana commenced working at the School of Health Sciences. Banyana worked on the NIHR funded study: Eye Donation from Palliative and Hospice care contexts – investigating Potential, Practice, Preference and Perceptions (EDiPPPP): a multicentre, mixed methods study. Whilst undertaking her role as a Research Fellow on EDiPPPP and, based on the expertise gained working across non-governmental organisations, Banyana was invited to join the Regional Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Technical Advisory Group (RMNCAH-TAG) advising WHO AFRO on regional policies and strategies related to improving sexual and reproductive health in member states.
Banyana’s commitment to the EDiPPPP study with its aim to hopefully end the shortage of eye tissue needed for sight saving and sight restoring surgery and research resonated with Banyana’s view of bringing about change for the greater good as expressed in words she shared with the research team at the end of the study “This is an amazing project that touches you to your core. It’s not possible to forget it. This is undoubtedly one of the turning points of my life. It gives me great pleasure to know that what I have had a glimpse of through the project will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
Banyana was also an active member of the School’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Group. After the end of her Research Fellow role in the School of Health Sciences, Banyana was a dedicated voluntary public representative on a project investigating the inequalities faced by ethnic minorities in the COVID-19 pandemic (Co-POWeR; Consortium on Practices for Wellbeing and Resilience in BAME Families and Communities, funded by UKRI/ESRC). Banyana’s research expertise and lived experience of being a Black person in the UK were invaluable to the credibility of the project.
Whilst fulfilling all of these roles, Banyana supported her son in his academic studies and ran marathons (for fun) to keep fit and de-stress. Banyana will be deeply missed by her friends and colleagues at the School, and as her colleagues we wish to express our sincere condolences to her family.
