Dr. Ritah Mutagonda
Dr. Ritah Mutagonda is a clinical pharmacologist and academician at the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Her research focuses on optimizing therapeutic strategies for infectious diseases, with a particular emphasis on malaria, HIV, and associated comorbidities. She investigates drug effectiveness, safety, and pharmacogenetic factors influencing pharmacokinetics and treatment outcomes, aiming to enhance patient care in resource-limited settings.
Her PhD, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), explored factors affecting malaria treatment outcomes in pregnant women treated with Artemether-Lumefantrine. Her research provided critical insights into how pregnancy-induced physiological changes influence the pharmacokinetics and therapeutic efficacy of antimalarial drugs.
Dr. Mutagonda’s postdoctoral research examines the interplay between malnutrition and tuberculosis, assessing how nutritional deficiencies impact drug pharmacokinetics and treatment outcomes. Her work seeks to inform personalized treatment strategies for malnourished TB patients, ultimately reducing adverse outcomes and drug resistance. She also leads a multinational study on malaria chemoprophylaxis in sickle cell disease patients under the Sickle Pan-African Research Consortium (SPARCo).
Beyond her research, she is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists, providing training and guidance to undergraduate and postgraduate students in clinical pharmacology and infectious disease research.
Dr. Reuben S. Maghembe BSc, MSc, MSc, PhD
Dr. Reuben Maghembe is a molecular biomedical scientist who specializes in translational genomics–beyond detection and diversity analysis of pathogens and microbiomes. Dr. Reuben holds an interdisciplinary background integrating a Bachelor of Science majoring Biology and Chemistry from University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), a Master of Science in Biochemistry from Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), a second Master of Science in Immunology and Clinical Microbiology from Makerere University in Uganda, and a PhD in Molecular Biosciences, which he competitively earned from UDSM under a bilateral collaboration with Swedish universities including Lund and Uppsala, among others, a SIDA-funded program. His research focuses on the application of omics and underlying bioinformatics workflows to dissect complex molecular mechanisms of virulence, pathogenesis and biosynthesis of potentially interventional metabolites, the essence of translational genomics. Precisely, Dr. Maghembe’s expertise integrates genome mining with molecular docking and dynamics to establish novel biomarkers, targets of virulence factors and drug candidates. While working as a Senior Lecturer in Microbiology and Immunology at St. Francis University of Health and Allied Sciences (SFUCHAS), Dr. Maghembe is a Postdoctoral Infectious Disease Research Fellow under the collaboration of University of Virginia (UVA, US) and Kibong’oto Infectious Disease Hospital (KIDH, TZ). Here, he advances his bioinformatics and research leadership skills by delving into the interaction of Tuberculosis (TB), malnutrition and associated noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) to predict and improve patient outcomes.
Dr. Vesla Kullaya, BSc, MSc, PhD
Dr. Vesla Kullaya is a biomedical scientist specializing in immunology and functional genomics at the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) affiliated with the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Moshi, Tanzania. She also serves as a lecturer in molecular biology and immunology at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUCo). Dr. Kullaya’s academic journey began with a foundation in molecular biology and biotechnology from the University of Dar es Salaam. She pursued further studies, earning both a master’s degree and a PhD in biomedical sciences from Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Her doctoral research delved into the intricate interplay between platelets and the immune system during infections, shedding light on the immunological role of platelets and their interactions with pathogens. Dr. Kullaya further contributed to the field through her collaboration with the Human Functional Genomics Project (HFGP) network, where she explored immune mechanisms in both health and disease contexts. Her primary research focus lies in employing a systems biology approach to investigate how alterations in the abundance, diversity, and metabolic activities of the gut microbiota, resulting from tuberculosis infection and anti-tuberculosis therapy, impact inflammatory and metabolic pathways. Notably, her work is tailored to address these complex dynamics within the context of the African population.
Dr. Kennedy Ngowi, PhD
Dr. Kennedy Ngowi (PhD) graduated with an Innovative Tech and Entrepreneurship (MSc) at Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark and (PhD) from AMC, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, on digital science technology to improve drug adherence for people living with HIV/TB. During his PhD research, Kennedy focused on examining the use of digital health technology to enhance treatment adherence and improve patient outcomes. Since then, Kennedy has encompassed digital intervention-based investigations to develop the required tools needed in our health center settings while promoting cost effectiveness for sustainability. To date, Kennedy has successively managed multiple studies that used mHealth to provide education on family planning and HIV/AIDS, as well as alcohol reduction. To ensure rigor and reproducibility in projects, Kennedy has incorporated extensive advance training, including project management, good clinical practice, policy briefing, communicating science to specific target audiences, qualitative data management and analysis with NVivo (concepts and approaches), and the development of mobile health. With his extensive experience in handling increasingly large volumes of clinical data, Kennedy aims to integrate advanced innovative technology for improving the traditional healthcare system architecture and facilitating quick decision-making, as well as for the efficient collection, organization, and analysis of data, allowing for the identification of patterns and the improvement of diagnostic accuracy.
Dr. Werner Maokola, MD, MSc, PhD
Dr. Werner Maokola is currently a Strategic Information Lead with the National AIDS Control Program (NACP) in the Ministry of Health Tanzania in Tanzania. He holds a Doctor of Medicine Degree (MD) from the University of Dar es Salaam Tanzania, a Master of Science (MSc) in Tropical and Infectious Diseases from Liverpool School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in United Kingdom and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Epidemiology from Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, Tanzania. His area of concentration for his PhD training was evaluation of effectiveness and implementation research (Effectiveness and Implementation Research-Effectiveness-Implementation Hybrid) of public health interventions to prevent Tuberculosis (TB) in HIV infected individuals. Prior to joining NACP, Dr. Maokola also worked with Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania as a Research Scientist in Malaria Randomized Clinical Trials and Implementation Research projects. Dr. Maokola’s areas of interest in research is to determine clinical effectiveness and implementation of public health interventions of TB, HIV, TB/HIV as well as interaction of these infectious diseases with non-communicable diseases such as malnutrition and non-antibiotic interventions to reduce infectious disease incidence and/or disease treatment outcome. Dr. Maokola is now a NIH Postdoctoral fellow (grant number D43 TW012247) working with partners at the University of Virginia and Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital. His long-term goal is to become independent leader in Implementation Research.
Dr. Peter Mbelele, MD, MSc, PhD
Dr. Peter Mbelele is a Clinical Microbiologist scientist at Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital in Tanzania. Peter leads research on application of advanced molecular diagnostics and genomic for detecting pathogens, designing regimens and monitoring treatment response of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. He has a Doctor of Medicine, Master of Medicine in Microbiology & Immunology and a Ph.D. in Life Sciences (Health and Biomedical Sciences). Dr. Mbelele is now a NIH Postdoctoral fellow (grant number D43 TW012247) where he develops research leadership capacity in microbiology and molecular diagnostics for controlling infectious diseases such as transmissible enteric pathogens that predispose to malnutrition and TB. Dr. Mbelele is working with partners at the University of Virginia and Haydom Global Health Research Centre and Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology. He is available for mentoring young scientists and trainees on molecular diagnostics and genomics at an intersection of infectious diseases like TB and malnutrition including undernutrition and diabetes mellitus.
