Jeremiah Chakaya Muhwa, Acting Chief Executive officer/technical director, Respiratory Society of Kenya, Volunteer Lecturer, department of Medicine, psychiatry, dermatology and therapeutics, Kenyatta Univeristy, appointed Professor, Global Respiratory Health, LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, Immediate past president of the International union against tb and Lung disease (the union)
Background and relevant experience
Born and bred in a village at the Kenya Coast, and attended local schools before joining the University of Nairobi to study medicine and qualified with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree in 1985. Enrolled for a Masters in Medicine Degree, internal medicine at the University of Nairobi and successfully completed this training in 1992. Obtained respiratory medicine training at the National Heart and Lung Institute, University of London at the Brompton Hospital in 1995 and at Kyorin University Hospital in Tokyo, Japan in 1997. Worked with the Kenya Medical Research Institute at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases Research, from 1992 to 2013, rising to the level of a Chief Research Officer, then the highest professional level at KEMRI. Managed the National TB, Leprosy and Lung Diseases Program for four years from 2003- 2006. Been engaged in global TB care and prevention as chair of the DOTS expansion working group of the Stop TB Partnership, vice chair of the Stop TB Partnership Coordinating Board, Chair of WHO’s Strategy and Technical Advisory Group for TB (STAG- TB) and chair of the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel. Served as the President of the International Union Against TB and Lung Disease. Co-directed the International Multi-disciplinary Programme to Address Lung Health and TB in Africa (IMPALA). Currently the Kenyan Principal Investigator for the Leaving No-one BehInd: transforming Gendered pathways to Health for TB(LIGHT) funded by UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO). Actively engaged in the provision of respiratory medicine services in the private health sector in Nairobi, Kenya.Education
- MBChB, University of Nairobi, 1985
- MMed(internal medicine) , University of Nairobi, 1992
- DThM, University of London, 1995
Recent experience
- May 1992 to May 2013 - From assistant research officer in 1992 to Chief Research officer at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute. Key roles: research project development, implementation and reporting.
- May 2013 to date - Chief Executive Officer and Technical Director at ReSoK. Key roles: Designing and managing training and public health projects in TB and Lung Health with a focus on TB, other lung infections, asthma, COPD, occupational lung diseases.
- March 2020 – March 2022 - Professor, Global Lung Health, Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Key roles: co-deputy director of the NHIR Global Health Research Unit on Lung Health and TB in Africa at LSTM(IMPALA) and provide strategic leadership of a program of applied health research focused on wellbeing after TB.
- 2014 -2019 - Member of the Global Fund’s Technical Review Panel (TRP), TB focal person at the Global Fund’s TRP and Chair , TRP. Key roles: review of country funding requests to the Global Fund for strategic focus and technical soundness. Advisory role to the Global Fund Board through the Strategy Committee.
- 2002-2024 - Review and assessment of TB programs in Africa and Asia including in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Indonesia, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Namibia among others
Publications, Presentations, Awards
- Awarded the James Anga’wa award for excellence in advancing lung health in Kenya in 2011.
- Awarded the Princess Chichibu Memorial Award for Global Tuberculosis Control awarded at the 45th UNION World Conference on Lung Health, Barcelona, Spain in 2014.