Annettee Nakimuli was unpacking from a research trip to the U.K. when she received a call from Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. She was needed for an emergency consult. One of her colleagues, an obstetrician who was just three years her senior, had suffered from eclampsia while pregnant with her fourth child.

Annettee, an obstetrician and gynecologist and the head of the hospital's unit on pre-eclampsia, examined her but she knew her friend was already gone. As she walked out, she said: "If pre-eclampsia is claiming one of us, then no woman is safe."

At the time, people tended to blame pre-eclampsia's higher incidence rate among women of African descent on the continent's health care system or social demographic characteristics. A few years later, in 2015, Annettee's groundbreaking PhD dissertation undermined that belief. Her work, the first genetic case-control study on pre-eclampsia among indigenous Africans, identified specific genes found exclusively in women of African ancestry that are linked with risk and protection in pre-eclampsia.

But what factors make some women more vulnerable to pre-eclampsia is still largely unknown. To find that answer, Annettee is studying women's health before pre-eclampsia sets in.

She is currently recruiting 4,000 women of African descent who are in the first trimester of their pregnancies. This will enable researchers to track clinical factors and biomarkers throughout the pregnancies to determine what causes healthy or adverse outcomes. The results can inform patient care and prevention strategies.

The samples collected can also be used to answer other vexing questions about maternal and newborn health in Africa, such as the predictors of still birth, preterm birth and fetal growth restriction.

Combined with her restless personality and curious mind, her experience as an OGBYN at the busiest maternity hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa, where she saw women succumb to pregnancy complications almost every day, made her want to pursue a research career as well.

"I enjoy doing things which I see are making a difference," said Annettee, who is a practicing medical doctor. "Going back into my research rejuvenates me when I'm distressed on the clinical side. I can then see that we can do things differently. We can improve the situation."