Biography

Alexandra de Nooy is a PhD student based at the Amsterdam UMC Department of Global Health. Originally trained as a biomedical and electrical engineer at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, she has completed subsequent NGO data analytics and modelling work in HIV and COVID-19. Her current PhD research focuses on the use of mathematical modelling to support TB diagnostic development and research. This includes modelling work to support the development of the TB screening and diagnostic TPPs and to evaluate the potential use of tNGS for drug-susceptibility testing in South Africa.

Expertise

TB Diagnostics
Public Health

Key Impacts

Cost-effectiveness of targeted next-generation sequencing for TB drug-resistance testing as an alternative to the standard of care in South Africa

tNGS could be cost-saving (centralised) or cost-effective (decentralised) in South Africa and has the potential to improve patient outcomes by returning a greater number of correct results in a shorter time. This analysis should be replicated across other settings to evaluate the broader feasibility of tNGS for DST.

Source: Conference 2024