The Scientists
Answering Kenya's
Most Important Questions

"The questions we are asking here are the ones that matter. And the data we have — thirty years of longitudinal cohort data from the same communities — is irreplaceable anywhere else on the continent."

Leads KEMRI's malaria transmission dynamics research programme. Fifteen years at KEMRI following a postdoc at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Her work directly informs Kenya's national malaria treatment guidelines and has contributed to three WHO global guideline updates.

"I returned from Cambridge because the most scientifically interesting pathogen genomics data in the world was being generated right here in Kenya — and the questions it could answer are the ones that actually matter for Africa."

Leads KEMRI's genomic surveillance programme. Specialises in whole-genome sequencing and phylodynamics of respiratory and enteric pathogens across East Africa. Generated Kenya's first SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequences within weeks of the pandemic's arrival.

"At KEMRI I can trace a direct line from the data I collect in Turkana County to a policy brief that lands on a Ministry of Health desk. That research-to-policy pathway is not theoretical here. It is what we are built to do."

Leads KEMRI's Universal Health Coverage research programme, focusing on health financing equity across Kenya's 47 counties. Her policy brief on NHIF coverage gaps was cited in the Ministry of Health's UHC implementation planning documents in 2024.