John Muthii Muriuki

Email : JMuriuki@kemri-wellcome.org

I’m an epidemiologist with experience in mathematical modelling and analysis of large datasets. I previously worked on modelling transmission dynamics of malaria in an irrigated setting and mapping of the drivers of poor nutritional outcomes in different ecological settings in Kenya. These studies sparked my current interest to research on the complex interactions between nutrition and infections. My PhD project entails investigating whether iron status is causally associated with the risks of malaria and bacterial infections in African children. I’m utilising Mendelian randomization to draw the causal inference. My study will also identify novel genetic variants that alter iron status in a genome-wide association study of African children. Currently, the safety of giving iron supplementation remains a long-standing conundrum among clinicians and policy makers. This study will therefore have an impact on public health policy for managing iron deficiency and the associated infections. In future, I hope to extend this concept to understand how nutritional deficiencies relate to other disease processes.

Publications:

1. A comparison of malaria prevalence, control and management strategies in irrigated and non-irrigated areas in eastern Kenya. Muriuki J.M., Kitala P., Muchemi G., Njeru I., Karanja J., Bett B. | Malaria Journal, 2016 15:402 DOI: 10.1186/s12936-016-1458-4
2. Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander Mentzer, Gavin Band, James Gilchrist, Tommy Carstensen, Swaib Lule, Morgan Goheen, et al. (2019). “The Ferroportin Q248H Mutation Protects from Anemia, but Not Malaria or Bacteremia.” Science Advances 5 (9): eaaw0109. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/9/eaaw0109
3. Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander J Mentzer, Emily L Webb, Alireza Morovat, Wandia Kimita, Francis M Ndungu, Alex W Macharia, et al. (2019). “Malaria Is Causally Associated with Iron Deficiency in African Children.” AAS Open Research. https://aasopenresearch.org/documents/2-141
4. Muriuki John Muthii, Alexander J Mentzer, Wandia Kimita, Francis M Ndungu, Alex W Macharia, Emily L Webb, Swaib A Lule, et al. (2018). “Iron Status and Associated Malaria Risk Among African Children.” Clinical Infectious Diseases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30219845
5. Muriuki John Muthii, and Sarah Atkinson. (2018). “How Eliminating Malaria May Also Prevent Iron Deficiency in African Children.” Pharmaceuticals 11 (4): 96. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30275421.
6. Muriuki John Muthii, Philip Kitala, Gerald Muchemi, Ian Njeru, Joan Karanja, and Bernard Bett. (2016). “A Comparison of Malaria Prevalence, Control and Management Strategies in Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Areas in Eastern Kenya.” Malaria Journal 15 (1): 402. https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-016-1458-4

Alex Hinga

Alex Hinga holds an MSc in Public Health from UWE Bristol and a BSc in Medical Laboratory Science from Kenyatta University. After his undergraduate studies, he was awarded a national research internship by CNHR Kenya which he successfully completed in 2011. This internship enhanced his research skills and strengthened his resolve to pursue a career in research for health. In 2012, Hinga won an international scholarship to study public health. While working on his MSc thesis at Public Health England, he developed a strong interest in multidisciplinary public health research.

Hinga is currently investigating ethical issues for health and demographic surveillance systems (HDSS) in sub-Saharan Africa. His PhD study has the potential to deepen our understanding and influence policy on data sharing, community engagement and consent in HDSS and other population-based surveillance systems. Overall, Hinga has research interests in critical bioethics, public policy analysis and evaluation of complex social interventions

Dr. Juliet O. Awori, MBChB

Juliet is working on access to care for childhood pneumonia treatment. Her work will focus on the determinants of pneumonia outcomes in children who are treated in government outpatient facilities in two rural communities in Kenya. She will describe how pneumonia treatment is given at the clinics, the treatment outcomes of children who are treated for pneumonia in these clinics and the social and cultural contexts that determine why and when these parents seek treatment for their sick children.

She is a Medical Epidemiologist with six years experience working on childhood pneumonia field studies, including a large multicenter epidemiological study and a phase 1/2 vaccine clinical trial.

Dr. Derick Kimathi, MBChB

Derick Kimathi is a medical doctor, trained at the University of Nairobi. Derick joined KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in 2017. He works within the arbovirus group, where he leads the human clinical trials. His interests are in tropical diseases prevention with a focus on emerging and re-emerging diseases; how to utilize vaccines for disease outbreak prevention and disease epidemic control.

Derick was awarded the TNF -Scholarship at the University of Oxford. His PhD is examining the immunogenicity of fractional doses for the Yellow Fever Vaccines in an attempt to redefine the minimum dose recommendation for the vaccine. His work also focuses on understanding the health policy processes at a macro level and how that influences vaccine use routinely and during epidemics.

Derick is the lead for the EDCTP funded multi-site study (NIFTY) with partners in KWTRP- Kenya, Epicentre- Uganda and France, UVRI-Uganda, Institut Pasteur de Dakar- Senegal and the University of Oxford.