Prof. Sam Kinyanjui

Director

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Email : SKMuchina@kemri-wellcome.org

Prof. Sam Kinyanjui is the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Programme in Kenya and the Director for the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL). Prior to the current position, he spent 16 years doing research on the immunology and molecular biology of malaria parasites. During this period he developed a strong interest in capacity building for health research in Africa.
As the Head of Training and Capacity Building at the KWTRP in Kenya, he provides scientific and strategic guidance for academic training towards research leadership. His key achievement has been the development and implementation of a comprehensive research career framework for attracting, training and retaining African research leaders. Through the framework, Prof. Kinyanjui has overseen the training of over 200 graduate interns, the majority of who have taken up a research career after the internship. This scheme has now been developed into a nationally accredited Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods. He has also overseen over 100 Masters and over 70 PhD training since 2008. In 2015 Prof. Kinyanjui was awarded a further 8 million pounds by the Wellcome Trust/DIFD to build on this work through the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL)
Regionally, Prof. Kinyanjui is involved in advocacy for increased commitment to building research capacity in Africa by both African governments and funding agencies. In 2006 he worked at the African Union Headquarter promoting health research agenda within the Union. He also sits on the advisory boards of several African capacity building initiatives including MUIIplus, SSACAB, SANTHE and the TDR Global Community Adhoc Workgroup.

Prof. Faith Osier

Chair, Bio-sciences Department, KEMRI - Wellcome, Kenya

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Affiliations:

KEMRI – Wellcome Trust

Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University

UniversitatsKilinikum Heildeberg

Faith trained as a clinician at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and obtained her MBChB degree in 1996. She immediately took up her Medical Internship at Coast General Provincial Hospital, in Kenya where she also worked as a Medical Officer in the department of Medicine until March 1998. Thereafter she took up a post as a Medical Officer/Research Officer at KEMRI-Kilifi, working in the Paediatrics Department of Kilifi District Hospital. It was here that she began to develop a career in research, engaging in clinical research studies and actively taking part in institutional academic meetings including weekly journal clubs and seminars. She subsequently specialized in Paediatrics, training both in Kenya and the United Kingdom, becoming a member of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health UK in 2003 and a Consultant Paediatrician in Kenya in 2009. In 2004 she undertook a Masters in Human Immunity at the University of Liverpool, UK where she graduated with distinction, and was awarded a prize for being the best student of the year in the Department of Immunology. She has a PhD from the Open University, UK and currently works as a Clinical Research Fellow and Group Leader at the KEMRI-CGMR-C in Kilifi. She holds an Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine from the Wellcome Trust, UK, and the prestigious MRC/DfID African Research Leader Award. In 2014 she was awarded the Young African Scientist Award by EVIMalaR, won the Merle A Sande Health Leadership Award and the Royal Society Pfizer Award. She is actively involved in capacity building for African Scientists and is building up a dynamic research group in Kilifi. Faith has been recently appointed Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford