Hello, my name is Emmanuella Nana Araba Fosua Essilfie. I have a degree in Biomedical Engineering and I am currently a 5th year medical student at the University of Ghana Medical School. In this and my subsequent series of blog posts, I will be sharing my journey to Data Science.

I've always found the field of technology fascinating and I always knew the future is Tech but I hadn't made any attempts at it yet. The motivation came in 2021, when I was dating someone in the Tech field; they call them Tech bros . He used to get so stressed from work and I was genuinely concerned about how to help him out. When I asked him, 'what about work stresses you this much'? , he just says, 'don't worry, you won't understand'. But I really wanted to understand so I can help him deal with the stress. Then, I hadn't decided on which field of Tech yet.

When I heard about Azubi AWS re/Start training for cloud engineering, I signed up. I took the online aptitude assessment and passed but during my interview, I found out that the training sessions won't favor my medical school time table; it coincided with exams and some of my ward sessions. I was so sad.

Since then, I have always been on the lookout for the next boot camp to learn a Tech skill that will favor my school time table. Even though I hadn't found a favorable one for myself yet, I decided to start sharing those opportunities with my contact list on Whatsapp so they too can learn a skill in Tech-because the future is indeed Tech. This has yielded some positive results as some of them were able to complete the Azubi training and are AWS Certified Cloud Practitioners.

Later in the year 2021, I met a young man named Clifford Frempong, a data engineer. When I expressed my interest in learning a Tech skill to him, I was open to recommendations, so he suggested Data Science. I started reading more about Data Science; I realized it had many applications in the health sector. It also involves a lot of Mathematics and Statistics so I could apply my knowledge in engineering there; my interest peaked. I knew that was the perfect combination for me as a doctor and an engineer.

I started looking around the ward for practical Data Science applications. One day during my pediatric rotation, my patient died, he was only 9 years old. His SpO2(oxygen saturation) levels had been declining gradually throughout the day but no one noticed-the values were being recorded on a chart manually at 4 hourly intervals. When he eventually went breathless, his mother called out to the doctors and they tried resuscitating him but it was too late. If his SpO2 was constantly monitored(assuming that was the only cause of deterioration), this data can be used in predictive analytics. Predictive algorithms can be used to determine a high risk of condition deterioration within the next 60 minutes so management could be initiated earlier, my patient would have been saved.

In January, 2022,my friend, Yaa Nuamah Kusi Fordjour, a software engineer, sent me a flyer about an Intensive Data Science Training organized by Python Ghana; it was free. The training time favored my school time table and I knew that was an opportunity specifically designed for me; I was so excited. I applied for it and took a python prerequisite test as part of my application process 2 days before my Pediatrics end of rotation examination. It was a real risk but it was definitely worth taking. Out of the 400 applicants, 40 were chosen and I was 1 of 7 girls that made it to the list. You can imagine my excitement. In my next blog, I will tell you all about the training session. Stay tuned.