Sophia Bam

Sophia Bam is a molecular biologist and public health genomics researcher based at the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI), with experience spanning academia, industry, and public health systems.

Her doctoral research investigates mitochondrial dysfunction in a South African autism spectrum disorder cohort using integrated transcriptomic and functional genomics approaches.

Her work focuses on the implementation of genomic systems for public health across Africa, including workforce development and training for the implementation of ISO-accreditable bioinformatics workflows, and comparative analyses of pathogen genomic surveillance architectures across Africa to support public health decision-making.

Sophia is particularly interested in how genomic technologies can be translated into sustainable, interoperable, and decision-relevant systems that strengthen equitable healthcare delivery across diverse African contexts.