Global partnership advances injury detection research across skin tones

Heather Carroll — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:16:39 +0000

Global partnership advances injury detection research across skin tones Heather Carroll Wed, 08/26/2026 - 12:16

A new collaboration between 91��’s Injury Analytics Lab and Southern Africa Nazarene University in Eswatini will improve tools to document injuries in underrepresented populations locally and globally, while also strengthening research capacity in Eswatini.

In July, IAL Co-Directors Janusz Wojtusiak, David Lattanzi, and Katherine Scafide and Imaging Coordinator Emily Swann traveled to Eswatini to help launch the partnership with Southern Africa Nazarene University.
Photo by Emily Swann.

If a bruise can’t be seen, it can’t be documented. If injuries can’t be documented, they can’t be treated or taken seriously in clinical or legal settings. Injuries that go undetected may be undertreated, misunderstood, or overlooked entirely, with real consequences for patients and survivors.

This challenge is at the center of a new international collaboration between 91��’s Injury Analytics Lab (IAL) and Southern Africa Nazarene University (SANU) in Eswatini. Through the Imaging of Naturally Occurring Skin Findings in Eswatini (INSIGHT-ES) project, researchers from both institutions are working to improve injury documentation while expanding research capacity in Eswatini. For years, the IAL has been focused on improving how injuries are detected, documented, and understood across diverse populations, and now the research is expanding globally.

Seeing Bruises

Bruises form beneath the surface of the skin. On individuals with darker skin tones, that can make bruising and similar injuries more difficult to see, and those injuries may also fade more quickly.

Bruises form beneath the surface of the skin, which can make them harder to detect on individuals with darker skin tones.
Image provided by Katherine Scafide.

Researchers at IAL have made significant progress in using alternative light sources to enhance the visibility of bruises across a range of skin tones. By combining computer imaging, artificial intelligence, and clinical data, the team is developing approaches that strengthen injury detection in both clinical and forensic environments.

“What we’re building is not just an AI-based tool, but a way to make injury documentation more consistent and accessible across settings, explains IAL Co-Director and Professor of Health Informatics Janusz Wojtusiak, who leads development of IAL’s injury platform and software systems. “By combining existing health information with advanced imaging, we can build intelligent systems that collaborate with people to improve both the quality of the injury assessments and how they can be used to support care.”

IAL Co-Director and Professor of Engineering David Lattanzi, adds, “The goal is a tool that is small, portable, and low-cost, making it easier to document injuries, particularly in remote or resource-constrained settings like those common in Eswatini or more rural areas of the U.S.” Lattanzi leads development of the lab’s computer vision systems and user-centered design.

Advancing the Science While Building Research Capacity

IAL Co-Directors Katherine Scafide, David Lattanzi, and Janusz Wojtusiak join SANU Vice Chancellor Faith Mlotsa-Mngomezulu for the opening of the new INSIGHT-ES research lab at Southern Africa Nazarene University.
Photo by Emily Swann.

Through the partnership with SANU, IAL's work is expanding globally to develop a richer dataset while building research capacity in a country where it is critically needed. “We’re excited to partner with SANU,” said IAL Co-Director and Associate Professor of Nursing Katherine Scafide, who leads the lab’s clinical research. “They will bring to the project much-needed expertise in operating within Eswatini as well as important data related to accidental and violence-related injuries on darker skin tones.”

SANU’s proximity to Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital provides a unique opportunity for data collection. Patients waiting to be seen may choose to participate in the study. That data will help improve future injury documentation on a range of different individuals and contribute to more equitable patient outcomes.

IAL Imaging Coordinator Emily Swann shares her expertise in imaging with the Southern Africa Nazarene University research team during a visit to Eswatini in July.
Photo by David Lattanzi.

Those advances are especially important in Eswatini, where nearly half of women in (48.2%) have experienced physical or sexual violence during their lifetime (UN Development Program) and 41% of reported perpetrators are intimate partners of the survivor (Swatini Action Group Against Abuse). By comparison, the World Health Organization estimates that about one in three women globally have experienced physical and/or sexual violence during their lifetime. Improving the ability to identify and document injuries across a wider range of skin tones could strengthen both patient care and forensic documentation for survivors.

“This work comes at a critical time for Eswatini, which has the highest HIV prevalence in the world, with an estimated 25 percent of its adult population living with HIV,” said Kevin Mallinson, a former faculty member in the College of Public Health who is consulting on the project and has worked in the country for decades. “More than 90 percent of HIV care in the country is delivered by nurses, which makes it especially important to strengthen both clinical practice and research capacity within the nursing workforce.”

Building sustainable research capacity is a central goal of the partnership. IAL researchers are providing workshops, mentoring SANU faculty in grant writing and research development, and working alongside them as collaborators, with SANU investigators serving as co-investigators on the project. The team is also helping develop SANU's health informatics program, creating opportunities to strengthen research and innovation long after the current project is complete.

Bongani Sibandze, PhD Nursing ’18, serves as the dean of SANU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and is one of only a small number of PhD-prepared nurses in Eswatini. He will lead the collaboration, which he sees as closely aligned with SANU's strategic goals.

Sibonile Dlamini, a department head and lecturer at SANU, will oversee the project's daily operations. Both Sibandze and Dlamini describe the collaboration as a potential turning point for research in Eswatini—one that could elevate the country's standing in global academic circles and benefit the nation well beyond the two institutions involved.

Southern Africa Nazarene University research partners Bongani Sibandze, PhD Nursing ’18, and Sibonile Dlamini visited the School of Nursing and Injury Analytics Lab in February to prepare for the launch of the partnership between the two universities.
Photo by Danielle Hawkins.

Overcoming the logistical and infrastructural challenges of conducting this research in Eswatini will itself generate insights applicable on a global scale. Ultimately, this project could serve as a model for interdisciplinary, international research—bringing together nursing, engineering, artificial intelligence, and public health to address inequities in care.

About the Injury Analytics Lab

Launched in 2026, 91��’s IAL brings together researchers from clinical science, engineering, artificial intelligence and health informatics to advance ongoing research focused on injury detection, assessment, and documentation. The lab serves as a hub for interdisciplinary projects that build on years of research to improve patient care, investigations, and legal proceedings.

IAL is directed by an interdisciplinary team including Katherine Scafide (School of Nursing, College of Public Health [CPH]), who leads the lab’s clinical research; Janusz Wojtusiak (Department of Health Administration, Policy, and Informatics, CPH), who leads development of the injury platform and software systems; and David Lattanzi (Volgenau School of Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing), who leads development of the computer vision systems.

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Key Takeaways

Bruises can be more difficult to see and may fade more quickly on darker skin tones, creating challenges for accurate injury documentation.
Injury Analytics Lab researchers are developing portable, affordable technology that combines advanced imaging, artificial intelligence, and clinical data to improve injury documentation in clinical, forensic, and resource-constrained settings.
Through a new international partnership, researchers from the Injury Analytics Lab and Southern Africa Nazarene University will expand injury detection research across darker skin tones while strengthening research capacity in Eswatini.

In This Story

Katherine Scafide, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAAFS

Janusz Wojtusiak, PhD

David Lattanzi

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Study Abroad in South Africa: Democracy, Development, Diplomacy—and Lions

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:45:40 +0000

Study Abroad in South Africa: Democracy, Development, Diplomacy—and Lions Andrew J Schappert Thu, 08/28/2025 - 13:45

In This Story

Michal McElwain Malur

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Schar School students walk with the lions at the Ukutula Conservation Center and Biobank. Photos provided

In the days before the 2025 fall semester began, graduate students from the Schar School of Policy and Government at 91�� ventured some 8,000 miles away from the Arlington, Virginia, campus to South Africa to take part in an academically rigorous study-abroad program hosted in partnership with the University of Pretoria.

Democracy, Development, and Diplomacy is a three-credit “global intensive” course set against the backdrop of South Africa’s first coalition government since 1994. The program challenged students to critically evaluate how domestic politics intersect with development strategies, regional security, and international diplomacy.

The course provided demanding case studies in governance adaptation and policy implementation, deepening students’ understanding of democratic transitions and international relations in practice.

“Study-abroad programs like this are invaluable to our students,” said Michal Malur, the Schar School’s director of external programs who served as part of the course leadership. “They strengthen résumés, expand global networks, and give students a perspective that simply cannot be gained in the classroom alone.”

Former Associate Dean Thys van Schaik, who has curated the program itinerary for two decades, once again led this year’s initiative. He emphasized that courses such as Democracy, Development, and Diplomacy play a vital role in advancing the mission of higher education.

“Study abroad transforms education. It’s not just about what students learn in lectures, it’s about how they live the lessons, experience the world firsthand and carry those insights into their careers and lives,” said van Schaik.

Academic sessions were held in Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg. Highlights included a panel on coalition governance and South Africa’s 2024 political transformation; briefings at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation on foreign policy and global security; and an in-depth exploration of constitutional design and legitimacy at Constitutional Hill, guided by judicial and academic experts.

Students also engaged in focused discussions on conservation, restorative justice, and biodefense with specialists at leading research institutes, reinforcing the connection between theoretical frameworks and real-world challenges.

“We weren’t just reading about democratic transitions,” said biodefense master’s student Kate Groves, “we were hearing directly from policymakers.”

German Acosta, a public administration master’s student, added that “the combination of site visits and lectures gave me a broader global perspective.”

The program’s experiential learning extended beyond the classroom and involved the local wildlife. In addition to spotting whales off the scenic coast of Cape Good Hope, a visit to the Ukutula Conservation Center and Biobank, a cutting-edge educational research hub for mammal and predator conservation, students engaged—safely and ethically—with a pride of lions. The lions are part of the center’s reproductive research on species that are keystones to African ecosystems.

Schar School students met dignitaries at South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria.

For more information on the Schar School’s study-abroad offerings, visit abroad.gmu.edu. Ben Main is a master of international security student in the Schar School.

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