Dr. Felix Kalisti Sukums is a Senior Lecturer, Researcher, and Founding Chair of the Digital Health Unit at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. With over 20 years’ experience across academia, government policy, the private sector, and international consultancy and projects, Dr Sukums is a recognised global leader in digital health systems, health enterprise architecture, and regional data governance.
He holds a PhD in Medical Informatics from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, and completed postdoctoral training in Digital Health at the Technical University of Munich. Globally and regionally, Dr. Sukums has been central to establishing robust frameworks for data governance, protection, and sovereignty. He is the Lead Consultant for the East African Community (EAC) Regional Health Data Governance Framework, EAC Regional Health Enterprise Architecture Blueprint and the EAC Regional Policy Framework on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies. He also served as a Technical Advisory Group (TAG) member for the Africa CDC Public Health Informatics initiatives and as an Expert Panel Member for the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Digital Health Competency Framework.
Nationally, Dr. Sukums led the development of the Regional and National Digital Health Strategies, including the EAC DIDATI Strategy 2025-30, the Tanzania Digital Health Strategies 2019–2024 and 2025–2030, and the Zanzibar Digital Health Strategy 2020–2025, as well as other national and institutional strategic frameworks, the fully costed Tanzania National Digital Health Investment Roadmap 2026–2030, and Zanzibar’s first Digital Health Data Protection and Sharing Framework. A prolific researcher with over 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than USD 2 million in competitive research funding, his work focuses on digital health capacity and policy frameworks, cross-border health information sharing, digital health architectures, data governance, protection, and privacy, implementation research, and digital health capacity strengthening. Dr. Sukums is a founding member and Deputy Treasurer of the Tanzania Health Informatics Association (TAHIA) and serves on multiple international boards.