After training around the world, Dr. Maman Joyce Dogba became a passionate advocate for patients the world over. In her many roles as a clinician, scientist and advocate, she works tirelessly to bridge the gaps that exist between different patient communities in diabetes care, as well as in the health sector as a whole.
Dr. Dogba completed her medical degree in Togo, before moving to France to pursue a pediatric internship. From there, she went on to do a Master’s in health economics in Senegal followed by a PhD in public health at the Université de Montréal in Canada. Dr. Dogba furthered her clinical specialization with a postdoctoral internship on social inequality in oral health at McGill University. Her current home base is the Université de Laval, in Québec City, where she is an Associate Professor and researcher.
Today, this clinician-scientist educates and advocates for patients living with diabetes who represent immigrant populations often underrepresented in the medical medical literature, as well as other underserved communities that experience disproportionately high rates of the condition. Dr. Dogba’s work centres on the patient’s voice, focusing on how patients can be effectively engaged in their own healthcare experience. Her investigations include patient-centred research on diabetes and its complications such as diabetic retinopathy, damage to the retina at the back of the eye caused by elevated blood sugar levels. Some of her recent work has focused on cultural safety – the respectful engagement and recognition of culture and lived experiences to rectify systemic imbalances – of diabetes care in Indigenous populations around the world, including in Canada. In collaborating with communities, she provides a platform for voices and experiences all too often absent from the body of literature that informs decisions – both clinical and political.
The field of medicine is interdisciplinary, and Dr. Dogba’s research reflects this. She not only studies the impact of diabetes on patients, but the role of other stakeholders. Some of her work focuses on training and interprofessional collaboration in both health and social services, exploring the education and interaction of these professionals who guide patients in the management of their conditions. She also evaluates healthcare programs themselves, identifying ways for the patient experience to be improved.
Dr. Dogba’s impact extends beyond the field of diabetes – she is a vocal proponent on social media of ending inequities in sex and gender in research and health. She is part of a recent wave of action calling out the normalization of microaggressions against marginalized groups in medical science research due to their gender or ethnicity – both as subjects of research and as researchers themselves when competing for grants or opportunities in the workplace. She actively celebrates linguistic representation too, encouraging and participating in francophone representation. She herself advocates and disseminates science in both English and French.
Whichever role and whichever hat she’s wearing at any given moment, Dr. Maman Joyce Dogba continues to inspire and amplify the voices of those who are unheard in diabetes care and beyond.
— Written by Swapna Mylabathula