WHO Reference Data Archive

Role

Platform manager and core developer · WHO contractor, June 2025–present

Problem

Mortality measurement research depends on reference datasets that are difficult to discover, document, curate, and reuse consistently across institutions.

Contribution

Co-lead software development with the Africa Health Research Institute; wrote the platform documentation for users, administrators, data managers, and data providers; serve as sole data manager; coordinate technical implementation across Ohio State, AHRI, and WHO.

Methods & tools

Julia, Python, R, SQL; data ingestion and curation, metadata, quality control, NADA and user-facing APIs, automated workflows, and analytics environments.

Outputs

A public WHO-hosted metadata archive and secure analytics environment, launched with verbal autopsy reference deaths from São Paulo, Brazil. Listed among the platform's authors in WHO's recommended citation.

The Reference Data Archive (RDA) is a WHO-hosted public catalogue and secure analytics environment for mortality data. It helps researchers and public-health practitioners discover, understand, assess, and reuse reference datasets for validating cause-of-death methods and strengthening mortality surveillance.

RDA platform · RDA GitHub organization

Technical delivery

I contributed to pilot development at The Ohio State University from 2023 through May 2025 and have continued the work as a WHO contractor since June 2025. As platform manager, core developer, co-lead of software development with the Africa Health Research Institute, and sole data manager, I translate scientific and operational requirements into data-ingestion, harmonization, validation, DDI metadata, NADA publication, controlled-access, and user-support workflows. I coordinate implementation across Ohio State, AHRI, and WHO and supervise data-quality, cleaning, and coding work.

Documentation and capacity building

I developed user guides, administrator and data-manager documentation, standard operating procedures, protocols, platform demonstrations, and tutorial videos, including a recorded WHO platform demonstration. These materials make the system usable by data providers, administrators, analysts, and new partner teams rather than leaving implementation knowledge in the codebase.

To support this work, I co-developed the RDA software ecosystem for data ingestion, DDI publication to NADA, quality control, controlled analysis, platform administration, and user-facing APIs.