Joseph Tsung-Shu Wu, PhD

Joseph Tsung-Shu Wu吳宗樹, PhD

I design and build digital health solutions and health information systems in Malawi, and I have stayed long enough to find out whether they actually hold.

PhD in Health Informatics, University of Oslo
Head of Research & Innovation and Acting Head of Programmes, Luke International
34th Medical Contribution Award, Taiwan, 2024

Profile

Systems are easy to install and hard to keep alive.

I arrived in Malawi in 2007 on Taiwan’s public health alternative service — the civilian route through national conscription — posted as an epidemiologist to the Taiwan medical mission at Mzuzu Central Hospital, a year out of the epidemiology programme at National Taiwan University. Taiwan and Malawi severed diplomatic relations in February 2008 and the mission withdrew. I came back in August that year as a researcher with Luke International, a Norwegian non-governmental organisation, and have worked out of Malawi ever since.

What I do sits between three things that are usually kept apart: the epidemiology that decides what information matters, the software architecture that decides whether that information can move, and the institutional work that decides whether anyone still maintains it in five years. Most digital health failures I have watched were not technical.

My doctoral research at the University of Oslo examined the establishment of Malawi’s One Health Surveillance Platform using action design research — building the system and studying the building of it at the same time, inside a national ministry rather than a pilot district.

Joseph Tsung-Shu Wu working through an electronic reporting system with facility staff in Malawi
Working through an electronic reporting system with facility staff, Malawi

Positions

  • Luke InternationalHead of Research, Innovation, Monitoring and Evaluation, since 2026. Acting Head of Programmes since 2025. Technical advisor since 2015. Country Representative for Malawi 2008–2015 and Acting Regional Representative for Southern Africa 2013–2015.
  • Ministry of Health, MalawiSenior Digital Health Technical Advisor since 2019. Official contact person to the Global Health Security Agenda since 2018. Acting Manager of the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre for the COVID-19 response, 2020–2023.
  • Teaching appointmentsMzuzu University since 2008, National Taiwan University since 2015, University of Livingstonia since 2017.
  • World Health OrganizationMember of the Roster of Experts in Digital Health and Innovation since 2019.
  • Health Information System architecture subgroupCo-chair, Ministry of Health digital health technical working group, since 2010.
  • Taiwan Medical Mission, MalawiEpidemiologist, Mzuzu Central Hospital, 2007.

Education

  • PhD, Informatics — University of Oslo, 2026Department of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Thesis on establishing the One Health Surveillance Platform for electronic integrated disease surveillance and response in Malawi.
  • MSc, Epidemiology — National Taiwan University, 2006Graduate Institute of Epidemiology, College of Public Health.
  • BSc, Public Health — China Medical University, Taiwan, 2003

Path

  • 2007

    Posted to the Taiwan medical mission in Malawi as an epidemiologist on public health alternative service, based at Mzuzu Central Hospital, after graduate study in epidemiology at National Taiwan University.

  • 2008

    Taiwan and Malawi severed relations in February and the mission withdrew. Returned to Malawi in August as a researcher with Luke International Norway.

  • 2009

    Signed memoranda of understanding with the Malawi Ministry of Health and Mzuzu University, establishing the basis for continued collaboration.

  • 2012

    Co-founded the Malawi eHealth Research Centre.

  • 2018

    Published the national assessment of implementation gaps in Malawi’s Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system in PLOS ONE.

  • 2019

    Establishment of the One Health Surveillance Platform on DHIS2 with the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Institute of Malawi. Appointed Senior Digital Health Technical Advisor, and joined the WHO Roster of Experts in Digital Health and Innovation.

  • 2020–23

    Acting Manager of the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre for the COVID-19 response. Cholera, immunisation and adverse-event modules, electronic medical record to surveillance automation, and a WhatsApp reporting channel.

  • 2024

    Received a Personal Medical Contribution Award at the 34th Medical Contribution Awards in Taipei, 19 October.

  • 2026

    PhD conferred by the University of Oslo. The One Health Surveillance Platform study published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.

Joseph Tsung-Shu Wu with the Taiwan medical mission in Malawi, 2007

2007 · ArrivalPosted to Mzuzu Central Hospital with the Taiwan medical mission, on public health alternative service, a year out of graduate school. Months later, Taiwan and Malawi severed relations and the mission went home.

Early electronic patient data system work with colleagues in Malawi, 2008

2008 · Starting againBack in August as a researcher with Luke International. The work began where it would stay for the next two decades: an electronic patient data system, three of us around one screen.

At the Malawi National Digital Health Forum, November 2024

2024 · National scaleThe Malawi National Digital Health Forum. The kind of system that started on one screen in a district office now carries reporting for the whole country.

Programmes

  • One Health Surveillance Platform (OHSP)Malawi’s DHIS2-based electronic surveillance platform, carrying weekly integrated disease surveillance reporting, community-based surveillance, outbreak modules and automated feeds from clinical systems.
  • Malawi Health Information System (MaHIS)Facility-level outpatient and maternal and newborn health records, piloted in Ntcheu district facilities and at a central hospital emergency and trauma centre.
  • Integrated Community Health Information System (iCHIS)Community health information for health surveillance assistants, implemented on DHIS2 across multiple districts.
  • Health information exchangeInteroperability between the national HMIS, HIV electronic records, laboratory information systems and surveillance, built on an open health information mediator.
  • HIV electronic recordsLong-running work with Pingtung Christian Hospital and the Ministry of Health on electronic data systems supporting the national HIV programme.

Selected research

ORCID 0000-0001-6155-9340 Google Scholar PubMed

Speaking and teaching

  • Strengthening resilient digital health systems in Malawi through interoperability, local capacity and country-led innovationWHO Global Initiative on Digital Health, 2026
  • Africa’s vaccine industry policy: roadmap to realityNational Health Research Institutes, Taiwan, 2024
  • Global health development: experience and practical lessons from MalawiCollege of Public Health, National Taiwan University, 2024
  • Automating surveillance reporting from electronic medical records, and platform resilienceDHIS2 Annual Conference, Oslo, 2023
  • Epidemiology, undergraduate teachingMzuzu University, Malawi
Teaching a class at Mzuzu University, Malawi
Teaching at Mzuzu University
At MedInfo 2025 in Taipei with colleagues from Malawi
MedInfo 2025, the 20th World Congress on Medical and Health Informatics, Taipei, with colleagues from Malawi
PhD defence at the University of Oslo
PhD defence, University of Oslo, March 2026

Recognition and coverage

Contact

Curriculum vitae

Download CV (PDF)  ·  Full CV with complete publication list (PDF)

Based in Mzuzu, Malawi. Working languages: English and Mandarin. Publications are listed in full on ORCID.

This site is a personal professional record. Dr Wu works with Luke International and Pingtung Christian Hospital and advises the Malawi Ministry of Health. Nothing here constitutes an endorsement by, or a statement on behalf of, any of those institutions.

吳宗樹Joseph Tsung-Shu Wu, PhD

在馬拉威設計並建置數位健康解決方案與健康資訊系統，並且待得夠久，久到足以知道這些系統是否真的撐得住。

挪威奧斯陸大學健康資訊學博士
挪威國際路加組織研究與創新部主任、代理專案部主任
第34屆醫療奉獻獎個人獎，2024年

簡介

系統建得起來不難，難的是讓它活下去。

2007年自臺大流行病學研究所畢業後，我以公共衛生外交替代役的身分加入臺灣駐馬拉威醫療團，進駐姆祖祖中央醫院。2008年2月臺馬斷交，醫療團撤離；同年8月我以挪威國際路加組織（Luke International）研究員的身分重返馬拉威，自此以馬拉威為工作基地至今。

我的工作橫跨三個通常被分開處理的領域：決定哪些資訊重要的流行病學、決定資訊能不能流動的系統架構，以及決定五年後還有沒有人維護它的制度工作。我看過的數位健康失敗案例，多數問題都不在技術。

博士研究於奧斯陸大學完成，以行動設計研究（action design research）探討馬拉威「同一健康監測平台」（One Health Surveillance Platform）的建置歷程——一邊建置系統，一邊研究建置本身，而且是在國家衛生部的層級，不是在單一試辦縣區。

經歷

  • 2007

    以公共衛生外交替代役流行病學專長身分加入臺灣駐馬拉威醫療團，派駐姆祖祖中央醫院。

  • 2008

    臺馬斷交、醫療團撤出；同年8月以挪威國際路加組織研究員身分重返馬拉威。

  • 2009

    與馬拉威衛生部及姆祖祖大學簽訂合作備忘錄，建立長期合作基礎。

  • 2012

    共同創辦馬拉威eHealth研究中心。

  • 2015

    轉任挪威國際路加組織技術顧問，服務馬拉威與南部非洲；同年起於臺灣大學公共衛生學院兼任授課。

  • 2018

    於《PLOS ONE》發表馬拉威傳染病整合監測與應變系統（IDSR）的全國性落差分析。

  • 2019

    與衛生部及馬拉威公共衛生研究院共同建置以DHIS2為基礎的同一健康監測平台；獲聘為馬拉威衛生部資深數位健康技術顧問，並入選世界衛生組織數位健康與創新專家名冊。

  • 2020–23

    獲馬拉威衛生部指派擔任公共衛生緊急應變中心（PHEOC）代理主任，負責COVID-19應變；期間建置霍亂、疫苗接種與不良事件模組、電子病歷到監測系統的自動化，以及WhatsApp通報管道。

  • 2024

    10月19日於臺北獲頒第34屆醫療奉獻獎個人獎。

  • 2026

    取得奧斯陸大學博士學位；同一健康監測平台研究刊登於《JMIR Public Health and Surveillance》。

聯絡與履歷

履歷下載（PDF，英文）、完整版履歷（含全部著作）。著作清單請見 ORCID。現居馬拉威姆祖祖，工作語言為英文與中文。

本網站為個人專業紀錄。吳宗樹現與挪威國際路加組織及屏東基督教醫院合作，並擔任馬拉威衛生部技術顧問。網站內容不代表上述任何機構之立場或背書。