Sema K. Sgaier (born 1975) is a

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

, global health expert, and documentary photographer. Sgaier’s expertise includes

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinian friar wor ...

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

disease surveillance Disease surveillance is an epidemiological practice by which the spread of disease is monitored in order to establish patterns of progression. The main role of disease surveillance is to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbreak, ...

, monitoring & evaluation of programs and

policy development Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

. Sgaier was an assistant adjunct professor at the

Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school of Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. The school grew out of the Harvard-MIT School for Health Officers, the nation's first ...

and an affiliate assistant professor of global health at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. While she was working for the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was l ...

she and

Mala Gaonkar Mala Gopal Gaonkar (born November 1969) is an American businesswoman, and the co-portfolio manager at investment firm Lone Pine Capital. Early life Gaonkar was born in November 1969 in the US and mostly raised in Bangalore, India. She earned a d ...

co-founded the ''Surgo Foundation'' to better understand how data and behavior can influence public health outcomes.

Early life

Sgaier was born in 1975 in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

to a Libyan father and Turkish mother. Sgaier studied molecular biology and genetics at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus, Bosphorus strait. It has six facult ...

in Istanbul, Turkey, where she graduated with her Bachelor of Science in 2005, ranking first of her class. Sgaier later obtained her Masters in Art in neuroscience from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1999 and Masters in Science and Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in cellular and molecular biology (Developmental Genetics) in 2005 from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. She conducted her postdoctoral training in human genomics in the lab of Dr.

Christopher A. Walsh Christopher A. Walsh is the Bullard Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Division of Genetics at Children's Hospital Boston, Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the former Director of the Harvard-MI ...

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, Massachusetts is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. It was formed out of the 1996 merger of Beth Israel Hospital (founded in 1916) and New England Deaconess Hospital (founded ...

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the graduate medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is one of the oldest medical schools in the United States and is consi ...

. Sgaier is the recipient of New York University, Brown University fellowships and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center fellowships. Sgaier studied Documentary Photography at the International Center of Photography.

Career

Sgaier was the first to fine tune and apply the technique of Genetic Inducible Fate Mapping (GIFM) to understand how the complex 3D

cerebellum The cerebellum (Latin for "little brain") is a major feature of the hindbrain of all vertebrates. Although usually smaller than the cerebrum, in some animals such as the mormyrid fishes it may be as large as or even larger. In humans, the cerebel ...

develops from early-undifferentiated neuronal cells of the anterior hindbrain. With Tim Yu and colleagues, she discovered that mutations in the gene WDR62 causes

microcephaly Microcephaly (from New Latin ''microcephalia'', from Ancient Greek μικρός ''mikrós'' "small" and κεφαλή ''kephalé'' "head") is a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head. Microcephaly may be present at birth or it ...

. At the Center for Global Health Research, Sgaier designed and developed the Sample Registration Health Check-Up Survey to study the underlying risk factors of various diseases in India. She has published on the epidemiology of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. From 2008, Sema was a Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She led a portfolio on voluntary medical male circumcision for HIV prevention across eastern and southern Africa. As part of BMGF’s India Country Office, Sema led the scale-up of the foundation’s HIV prevention program (Avahan) in several states, managed its transition to the government of India, and developed data platforms for decision-making. She worked closely with the Indian National AIDS Control Program to assist in the design of their program and strengthen their analytic efforts. She,

, and Malcolm Gladwell, co-founded the Surgo Foundation. They invested in public health projects, by listening to local needs. She founded Surgo Health.

Selected publications

Articles

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Sgaier, Sema; Engl, Elisabeth; and Kretschmer, Steve.
Time to Scale Psycho-Behavioral Segmentation in Global Development
. ''

Stanford Social Innovation Review ''Stanford Social Innovation Review'' (''SSIR'') is a magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. ''SSIR'' is written by and for social change leaders from around the world and from all sectors of society—nonprofi ...

'', Fall 2018.
Design Thinking Without Deep Data Will Fail Our Customers in Global Health
. ''

'', February 14, 2019. *Sgaier, Sema.
Why So Many Newborns and Mothers Still Die"
''

Project Syndicate Project Syndicate is an international media organization that publishes and syndicates commentary and analysis on a variety of global topics. All opinion pieces are published on the ''Project Syndicate'' website, but are also distributed to a wi ...

'', June 17, 2019.
Demystifying Machine Learning for Global Development
. ''

'', July 24, 2019.
Using AI to Understand What Causes Diseases
. with Elisabeth Engl and Steve Kretschmer. ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Massach ...

'', November 8, 2019 * *

Book chapters

*
India: Scaling HIV Prevention through Partnerships – The Avahan Experience in India
. with Aparajita Ramakrishnan and Ashok Alexander. i
Innovative Health Partnerships: The Diplomacy of Diversity
(Global Health Diplomacy: Volume 1). Daniel Low-Beer, ed.

World Scientific Publishing Company World Scientific Publishing is an academic publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in 1981. It publishes about 600 books annually, along with 135 journals in various f ...

, 2011. * "The Concept of Fate Through the Lens of Genetics" with F. Berenshteyn, A. L. Joyner, S. Miller, C. Song, and M. P. Villanueva in ''Responsive Architectures: Subtle Technologies''. Philip Beesley, Sachiko Hirosue, Jim Ruxton, Camile Turner, and Marion Tränkle, ed. Cambridge: Riverside Architectural Press, 2006 pp. 26–29.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sgaier, Sema Boğaziçi University alumni 1975 births Libyan people of Turkish descent People from Tripoli, Libya Molecular biologists Brown University alumni New York University alumni 21st-century women photographers Living people Libyan scientists Harvard Medical School faculty