Dr. Sunny Ibeneme
Digital Health Specialist
2022 — Feb 2026
International / UN
UNICEF East Asia & Pacific Regional Office · Bangkok, Thailand
Health Specialist, Digital Health & Health Information Systems

Managed an $18M Japan-funded digital health portfolio directing rollout of interoperable immunization information systems and electronic community-based IS (eCBIS) across 10+ Asia-Pacific countries. Led cross-border telehealth system for migrants including policy harmonisation, health workforce registries, and interoperability standards. Applied R, Python, and Power BI to generate near-real-time vaccination intelligence relied upon by decision-makers across 20+ countries. Coordinated with WHO, Gavi, World Bank, and DFAT to launch and monitor complex digital transformation projects.

DHIS2 Immunization IS Interoperability Cross-border Telehealth
2024 — Present
Academic
MIVA Open University · Nigeria (concurrent)
Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Public Health

Teaches MPH students in Public Health Program Design, Implementation & Evaluation, and Grant Proposal & IRB Development. Designs curriculum, marks assignments and exams, and supervises undergraduate, MSc and PHD students for capstone projects, theses, and dissertations.

Teaching MPH Curriculum Mentorship Program Evaluation
2020 — 2022
International / UN
World Health Organization — Regional Office for Africa · Brazzaville, Congo
Digital Health & Innovation Officer

Provided regional programme leadership for a $24M USAID-funded project. Supported 47 AFRO member states to design and implement national digital health platforms for surveillance, outbreak response, and primary health service delivery. Developed interoperability frameworks using FHIR, HL7, LOINC, IHE, and CQL standards. Supported the Nigerian Polio Response using geo-spatial analytics and AVADAR tools. Built competency-based HIS curriculum and eHealth/mHealth focal point networks across the region.

WHO AFRO FHIR/HL7 47 Member States Polio Response
2019 — 2021
Consulting
World Bank Group · Lesotho
Disease Surveillance & MEAL Consultant

Led redesign of Lesotho's COVID-19 surveillance system, strengthening workflows, indicators, and integration for faster outbreak detection and response. Deployed digital rapid response tools for COVID-19, Polio, and measles campaigns. Conducted a comprehensive Digital Health Scoping Review for COVID surveillance and produced an Action Plan for improved surveillance strategy. Strengthened integrated data systems to enable collaborative surveillance across COVID, Malaria, HIV, and TB programmes.

COVID-19 Surveillance MEAL World Bank Lesotho
2015 — 2018
Research
UTHealth School of Public Health / NIH-Affiliated Research · Houston, Texas, USA
Graduate Research Assistant / Data Scientist

Doctoral research applying health informatics, data science, and design thinking to assess and prototype innovative mHealth and AI-enabled diagnostic solutions for primary healthcare in low-resource settings. Conducted systematic health technology assessments (HTA) of telemedicine, AI diagnostics, and geo-mapping tools across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. Applied machine learning and geospatial analytics (Python, R, ArcGIS) to identify coverage gaps. Collaborated with NIH and USAID-funded teams and presented findings at AMIA and MedInfo conferences.

mHealth Prototyping AI/ML Analytics Health Technology Assessment PhD Research
2012 — 2015
Government
Federal Ministry of Health · Abuja, Nigeria
Health Officer — HMIS, Data Systems & Programme Implementation

Led national HMIS digitalization under a GAVI/PEPFAR/Global Fund-supported programme, transitioning Nigeria's health information systems from paper to digital across 36 states. Spearheaded rapid prototyping of Android-based mobile data collection in 6 pilot states, achieving 60% improvement in data timeliness — a model later referenced by WHO AFRO. Trained 200+ state and LGA-level HMIS officers and contributed technical inputs to Nigeria's National eHealth Strategy (2014–2018). Supported DHIS2 integration with vertical disease programmes (HIV, TB, malaria, immunization).

DHIS2 HMIS Nigeria GAVI / PEPFAR / Global Fund
2011 — 2012
Clinical
University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital · Nigeria
Medical Officer (Intern)

Completed mandatory internship with clinical rotations in internal medicine, paediatrics, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology. Researched parents' perception of congenital heart anomalies among immunocompromised (HIV/AIDS) babies in Southern Nigeria. Monitored and evaluated cases and provided urgent care services.

Internal Medicine Paediatrics Clinical Practice Internship