Dr. Elizabeth Itotia has made history by becoming the first female radiopharmaceutical scientist in Kenya.
Itotia recently returned to the country after completing a master’s in radiopharmacy at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University in Pretoria, South Africa.
The 29-year-old is now stationed at Kenyatta University Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH) where she has been working for the past few months.
Dr. Itotia secured a fully sponsored scholarship by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to study the course in South African after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the University of Nairobi. She was a valedictorian (best student overall in the entire university) in the class of 2017.
A radiopharmaceutical scientist, also known as a nuclear pharmacist or radiopharmacist, is mainly tasked with preparing radioactive drugs in a safe and quality way. These drugs are mainly used for the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer.
Such drugs are prepared on-site since they expire in a matter of hours or sometimes minutes or seconds.
“They are also radioactive and therefore the aspect of radiation protection comes in,” Dr. Itotia, who hails from Limuru says.
Radioactive drugs are injected into patients who are then imaged using a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan or a Single-Photon Emission Computerized Tomography (Spect) scan.
“It’s exciting that Kenya now has a public facility with a PET scan (KUTRRH). This is actually one of the main reasons people travel to India seeking treatment,” Itotia told Nation.
Her skills will come in handy in the running of the upcoming Integrated Molecular Imaging Centre (IMIC) at KUTRRH to promote quality cancer care, particularly in regards to early diagnosis.
Hongera Daktari Itotia. …
Hongera Daktari Itotia. Given all the other craziness going on, in Kenya, these are the kind of stories that should uplift us all. Najivina kua Mkenya kutoka Limuru.
I have seen it before on…
I have seen it before on this forum.Yes, quite afew of “shallow” minded men will comment on her beauty more than on her academic achievement. Folks she not in the news because of her beauty,though that is an added advantage.
We are proud of you Doctor.I hope you inspire alot of your girls to chase your field,and other male dominated disciplines.Keep up the good work.
My heart weeps for Africa…
My heart weeps for Africa. Not to take away from her shine, but being a Radiopharmacist is not highly regarded out here. If this is the first we have in Kenya, then we are really behind. I should know because I worked in a Radiopharmacy while in pharmacy school those days. For good old GE Healthcare; making Myoview, Ceretec etc. Cardioview (Cardinal Health) was a competitor some many moons ago.
The really hard part of the job is to avoid being ‘lit’ i.e exposure to radioactive material and possible future harm/mutations and cancer, and navigating a clean room. Jeez! spent 2 hours just garbing to make the drug. Cleaning took a good chunk of the day, all day roof to floor once a week, then monthly thorough cleaning of the whole structure. Accuracy, Speed and Safety are key. Otherwise, you just spent your days diluting and shaking things up in a hood.
Ironically, our radioactive material source was flown in every Tuesday from South Africa. One Fedex delivery, to last the 43 hospitals we serviced. If we ran out, we borrowed from Cardinal health, they also borrowed from us. At times you’d get a very dark blood sample (stat orders); you could easily guess the patient will be dead by the time the radio-drug gets there…happened too… many times. Especially the elderly dying patients whose doctors had no clue where the infetion was and so they needed to ID organs and initiate treatment. Woe unto you if you are the Pharmacist on call and it happens at 1am, you are going in to elute and tag that sample, and ship it back in 45 minutes.
No one wanted to be manager due to such calls. The joke was that if you wanted to get divorced, become a Nuclear Pharmacy manager. The drug itself is decaying fromm the time you constitute it. nfact the whole delivery fromn South Africa is decaying the whole time. So you better have drivers on hand to drive that stuff sometimes upto two hours away, and get there while it is still effective. What that meant was that your work hours would be fucked up all the time.
Your heart of hatred for the…
Your heart of hatred for the Kikuyus makes you breed every where! What does a cna who makes $10.00 per hour in Massachusetts know! You have a lot of idiotic ghetto in you, literally!
You just congratulates your luo friend married to a white dude in Arizona but your filthy foul heart has nothing good to say about this hard working young female kikuyu doctor!
People like you will make many not to even vote for Raila in 2022. As much as we want to share leadership across the board, I still believe the nilotes from western Kenya are yet to mature out of childish arrogance!
I just feel very sorry for your ignorance and consuming empty pride! You suck!
You are nothing but a lazy…
You are nothing but a lazy bustard @ceneca! No wonder even a female dog does not want to marry your dripping ass!
Stop cutting down those who have worked hard in this life! You ain’t no match to this doctor! She knows her trade but you don’t know anything about her professional field!
Your lame explanation sound like a tad talk!
Don’t lie ceneca bitch! You…
Don’t lie ceneca bitch! You have never sat in a pharmacy classroom! No pharmacy school any where in the world would accept your mediocre grades! Liar, lair, lair!
This ugly luo idiot @ceneca…
This ugly luo idiot @ceneca is very jealous of this beautiful doctor!! @ceneca – you can see Kikuyus breed well both physically and mentally!
Congratulations Dr Itotia…
Congratulations Dr Itotia keep soaring.
We need to emulate India and develop a one stop medical city center.
This will save so many lives and Ksh billions