Dr. Yashodani Pillay

Dr. Yashodani Pillay (BSc, PhD) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and the Centre for International Child Health at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. With a PhD in Medical Biochemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, Pillay’s doctoral research focused on mycotoxins in consumables and metabolic impacts on human health – findings that indicate food quality may be an important strategy in addressing non-communicable diseases. Currently, as a global health researcher, she has dedicated her focus on maternal and pediatric sepsis, digital innovations, and quality improvement. She is currently leading the Smart Discharges for Mom&Baby project in Uganda, which aims to develop, validate, and implement an innovative precision public health approach to improving post-discharge post-delivery care for mother-newborn dyads in Uganda. She is also leading implementation of Smart Triage in Uganda and Kenya - a data-driven approach to improving the quality of care for children treated for severe infectious illness at health facilities in low-resource settings.