Data Scientist · ML Engineer · AI Researcher
I build AI for problems that are usually ignored: remote patient triage for underserved clinics, speech recognition that finally understands Ghanaian-accented English. Lately I've applied the same craft to revenue, with recommendation engines that carried a Dubai sales season.
I started out in banking, assessing loan applications at First Atlantic Bank in Accra. Data science pulled me in from there. I earned an MSc at AIMS Senegal on a MasterCard Foundation scholarship, spent a year building speech recognition for a French tech company, and turned my thesis on remote healthcare monitoring into GemmaCare, a working triage app. Most recently I was the data scientist at a Dubai firm, where my dashboards and recommendation models became part of the sales team's daily routine. I'd rather ship a model with honest metrics than keep polishing a perfect one in a notebook.
Years in Data & AI
Projects Completed
Tools in Regular Use
MSc Grade (Very Good)
Most of my research is machine learning for healthcare: my thesis paired IoT sensor data with ensemble models to monitor patients remotely. I also work on NLP, particularly speech recognition for African-accented English.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Accra, Ghana
Saint-Quentin, France
Accra, Ghana
Accra, Ghana
Techiman Branch, Bono East
Ensemble ML model + MedGemma 4b-it for disease prediction and clinical triage across asthma, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and healthy classes. Live Streamlit app enables patient vitals input, risk scoring, and AI-guided triage feedback.
Streamlit dashboard for exploring the Dubai property market. Filter listings by location, property type, and price range, and compare price trends across neighbourhoods on interactive charts.
Created a simple Streamlit web application that merges multiple PDF files into a single downloadable document. Built with Python and deployed on Streamlit Cloud for free and fast online access.
A modern, responsive portfolio website showcasing my professional experience, projects, skills, and achievements. Built with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, featuring smooth animations, interactive contact form with EmailJS integration, and fully responsive design. Deployed on Netlify for fast and reliable hosting.
African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Mbour-Thies, Senegal
Oct 2022 – Jul 2024Grade: 84/100 - Very Good Pass
Thesis: IoT and Artificial Intelligence for Secure Remote Healthcare Monitoring. Under review
University of Toronto Mississauga
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (Online)
Sep 2023 – May 2024Value: $4,000 CAD
Coursework: Healthcare Governance, Ethics & Culture, Healthcare Strategy & Critical Thinking Processes, Risk Management in Healthcare, Effective Leadership in Healthcare, Healthcare Finance, Reporting & Scorecards Data Analysis & Digitization for Healthcare
University for Development Studies
Tamale, Ghana
Sep 2014 – Jul 2018CGPA: 3.85/5.0 - Second Class Upper Division
Thesis: Analysis Of Factors That Influence Academic Performance (CGPA) Of Students. A Case Study of FMS, UDS-Navrongo Campus
Awarded by MasterCard and University of Toronto
Mississauga
Sep 2023 – May 2024Value: $4,000 CAD
Awarded by MasterCard Scholars Foundation and AIMS-Senegal
Oct 2022 – Jul 2024Value: $50,000
PA-AISS 2025 Conference
For the paper titled "Improving Speech Recognition for Ghanaian Accents Using Transformer-Based Accent Classification", recognizing excellent quality, originality, and impact. Now published by Springer in LNICST vol. 697, pp. 3–20.
Value: $200
AIMS Research and Innovation Centre, Rwanda
Mar 18–22, 2024 Verify CertificateDeepLearning.AI and Stanford Online (Coursera)
Mar 2023 Verify CertificateSuper Data Science (Udemy)
Mar 2023 Verify CertificateDeepLearning.AI and Stanford Online (Coursera)
Jan 2023 Verify CertificateCoursera
Apr 2023Accepted paper: "On-Device Triage with Self-Improving Reinforcement Learning in IoMT Networks" (first author) — Springer, Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies
Online
28-30 October, 2026Delivered oral presentation online at the NLPercep Workshop
Los Angeles, California, USA (Online)
27-29 May, 2026Presented "Improving Speech Recognition for Ghanaian Accents Using Transformer-Based Accent Classification" — Best Paper Runner-Up; published in the Springer proceedings (LNICST vol. 697, pp. 3–20)
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (In person)
15-17 October, 2025Poster presentation: "IoT and Artificial Intelligence for Secure Remote Healthcare Monitoring" (first author, with A. Ndam Njoya and A. Salifu) — view poster. Now extended into a paper accepted at WIDECOM 2026.
Kigali Convention and Exhibition Village, Kigali, Rwanda
17-22 August, 2025University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana
24-29 September, 2024University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana
3-9 September, 2023Superstudio, Via Tortona 27, Milan, Italy (Online)
September 30, 2023By Prof. Agostino Merico from Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Germany
AIMS-Senegal
13-17 February, 2023Centre for Coastal Management-(ACECoR) University of Cape Coast and Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research, Germany
UCC Campus
27-31 January, 2023Extends my MSc thesis work, first presented as a poster at Deep Learning Indaba 2025 (view poster).
First author · Accepted at WIDECOM 2026 · Springer, Lecture Notes on Data Engineering and Communications Technologies
Salifu, A., Cobbinah, M., Adinkrah, J., Dede, A., Kunveng, L., Yakubu, K. E., Owusu, E. O. NLPercep Workshop, ICWSM 2026. Controlled study of 412 participants across 12 African countries. View on OpenReview
NLPercep Workshop, ICWSM 2026, Los Angeles · Published May 2026 · Oral presentation (online)
Salifu, A., Nunoo-Mensah, H., Tchao, E. T., Dede, A., Kunveng, L., et al. In Pan-African Artificial Intelligence and Smart Systems (PAAISS 2025), Springer LNICST vol. 697, pp. 3–20. View on SpringerLink
PA-AISS 2025 Conference · Published by Springer · Best Paper Runner-Up
What colleagues and collaborators say about working with me.
"Lukman delivered a speech-to-text system that meaningfully improved transcription accuracy for Ghanaian-accented speech. Rare to find someone equally comfortable in the lab and in production."
"What sets Lukman apart is his ability to bridge the gap between statistical rigour and business practicality. His dashboards and recommendation systems became core tools for our sales team within weeks of deployment."
"Lukman excelled throughout the AIMS MSc programme — academically strong, collaborative, and driven by impact. His thesis on IoT and AI for healthcare monitoring stood out for its real-world applicability and technical depth."
Full professional references available on request via LinkedIn.
Actuarial Science Students' Association
2017/2018Actuarial Science Students' Association
2016/2017Sawla-Tuna Kalba District
May-Jun 2015 and Jun-Jul 2016If you're hiring for a data science or AI role, or want a second pair of eyes on a project, get in touch. I usually reply within a day.
Dubai, UAE · Accra, Ghana