Mbarara University of Science & Technology

Logo of Mbarara University of Science & TechnologyMbarara University of Science and Technology also known as MUST is a public university accredited by the National Council for Higher Education in Uganda. It has acclaimed national and international recognition for best practices in outreach and community relations from Association of Commonwealth Universities, European Union, Civil Society of Uganda, produces the best development workers and health care professionals. Its vision as a leading institution is to be a centre of academic and professional excellence in Science and Technology with the goal of providing quality and relevant education at national and international level with particular emphasis on Science and Technology and its application to community development.


Site Director

Francis BajunirweDr. Francis Bajunirwe, Senior Lecturer, Department of Community Health, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda
fbaj@must.ac.ug
+256-772-576-396

Dr. Bajunirwe completed his medical degree training at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and thereafter served as a Medical Officer in the Department of Surgery at Mbarara University Teaching Hospital. He chose a career in research and was accepted as a Fogarty fellow at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio under the AIDS International Training and Research Program. He completed a Master’s degree in Epidemiology under the supervision of Dr. Christopher Whalen and returned to Cleveland for a PhD program, also in Epidemiology which he completed in 2008.

On completion of his PhD, he returned to Mbarara University of Science and Technology where he assumed a position of Senior Lecturer in the Department of Community. In that same year, he received a grant from Doris Duke to implement a mobile pharmacy to deliver antiretroviral therapy to patients living in remote areas in two rural districts in south western Uganda. He supported the initiation of the Masters of Public Health at Mbarara University, and he coordinates this program to-date.

He partnered with his mentor Dr. Christopher Whalen, at Case Western Reserve University to support the successful renewal of the AITRP program and he co-directed the program that oversaw over 30 fellows receiving USA in-country training support.

His current research involves implementation of community based initiatives to expand screening for HIV and non-communicable diseases, uptake and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV among key populations. He has an interest in research ethics and recently supported a successful application to the NIH to start a Masters in Public Health with a concentration in research ethics at Mbarara University. He also serves as chair of the Research Ethics Committee at Mbarara University.


Mentors

Stephen AsiimweDr. Stephen Asiimwe, Principal Research Scientist, Program Director
sasiimwe@mustresearch.org
+256772479062

Dr. Stephen Asiimwe is the Program Director of the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST)-Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Global Health Collaborative (GHC). He is a Physician Scientist with many years of collaborative clinical and population based research as well as program design and implementation in Uganda. Previously, he was the Executive Director of ICOBI, a national NGO with leading community interventions and research into HIV, TB and Malaria. He has a degree in Medicine & Surgery from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda (1999) and a Masters Degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Case Western Reserve University Ohio (2006) as well as a doctorate in public health Epidemiology and Health Policy at the University of Georgia, USA (2013). Before taking on the role of Program Director, he was involved in 8-10 years of active clinical practice (general medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology and surgery). His work seeing patients in the clinic with preventable illnesses led to his interest in population health, particularly in work related to HIV and STI prevention and management.  Stephen is now Principal and Co Principal Investigator at the Kabwohe Clinical Research Center (KCRC) and Integrated Community Based Initiatives (ICOBI) respectively in Uganda, both of which are centers of excellence in clinical and community-based medical research in Uganda that conduct, multi-center HIV prevention clinical/community trials among others. He is also an attending Clinician, and Co-Investigator, involved with teaching and collaborative research projects with colleagues at the University of Washington (Seattle), University of Georgia, Harvard Center for Global Health, Makerere University and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) in Uganda. Stephen is also an adjunct faculty and honorary lecturer of epidemiology and biostatistics at the MUST department of community health and assists train for the NIH supported MURTI program at MUST.

Dr. Joseph NgonziDr. Joseph Ngonzi, Senior Lecturer (Obstetrics/Gynecology) and Dean-Elect, Faculty of Medicine at Mbarara University of Science and Technology
jngonzi@must.ac.ug
+256703818336

Dr. Ngonzi is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology department at Mbarara University in southwestern Uganda. He has done work in HIV/AIDS among pregnant and postpartum women in Uganda. He has researched on HIV disclosure facilitators and hinderances among pregnant women in Uganda as well as on HIV Infection and risk of postpartum infection, complications and mortality in rural Uganda. He has interest in cervical cancer control among HIV infected women. His focus in gynecology work and research has been in cervical cancer screening, while his focus in Obstetrics has been in maternal safety, including management of maternal HIV infections, maternal hemorrhage and maternal sepsis.

Dr. Ngonzi has also personally witnessed numerous maternal deaths and obstetrical near misses, many of which have been caused by postpartum sepsis. These experiences have also inspired his  research interests on understanding causes of sepsis, means to prevent it, and the responsible use of antibiotics especially among HIV infected women. His research focus now is to improve maternal outcomes through appropriate antibiotic use and sepsis prevention in resource-limited settings among HIV infected and un-infected women.

Associate Professor Sam MalingProfessor Sam Maling, Associate Professor of Psychiatry
sammaling@must.ac.ug
+256776700225

Professor Maling has a 22-year history of health care services and health professionals training in Uganda.  He is the immediate former Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in which he is responsible for the training and mentorship of medical doctors, medical laboratory scientists, pharmacists, graduate nurses, physiotherapists and pharmaceutical scientists in the faculty of medicine. In addition, he oversaw and guided the curriculum review and implementation of both undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the faculty, in improving clinical training in both the hospital and community setting, student assessment and planning and implementing community based medical education.

As a faculty leader, he has nurtured both local and international collaborations and guided departments in achieving their academic missions. He is the core trainer in the Leadership Development Program in the Faculty of Medicine, MUST. He has previously been co-investigator of MEPI-Medical Education program in Uganda named Medical Education for Equitable Services to All Ugandans (MESAU) funded by NIH (Grant No. R24 TW008886 (PI-Nelson Sewankambo). Currently, he is a Co-Program Director of another NIH-funded training program: Mbarara University Research Training Initiative (MURTI) being implemented at Mbarara University of Science and Technology. As a MURTI Co-PD he is directly responsible for the mentor-mentee relationship, coordinate and oversee the mentor-mentee relationship, monitor trainee progress including their research projects and career development.  He is a member of the MURTI Program Implementation Committee and the Training Advisory Committee.  He is a fellow of the Foundation for Advancement of Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) undertaken with Sub-Saharan Africa-FAIMER Regional Institute (SAFRI) in which he underwent training in medical education principles, curriculum development, assessment, teaching, mentorship, leadership and scholarship. He is a recipient of the Rogers Fellowship under the Medical Research Council in which he studied HIV/AIDS infection among severely ill mental patients in Uganda. He also underwent a mentorship program implemented by International College of Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP). He is an author of a chapter in a book titled: Psychiatric Problems of HIV/AIDS and their Management in Africa (Eds Segane Musisi & Eugene Kinyanda) and also a chapter author in a book titled: Psychiatry for Primary Health Care in Uganda (Ed Emilio Ovuga). As a native Ugandan, he has worked as a psychiatrist in a resource-limited setting since 2002 and a physician since 1995 and regularly provide care to patients living with Alzheimer’s and other related dementias, HIV Associated Dementia and other psychiatric disorders seen in rural communities as well as clinical settings. He has also conducted and published research in southwest rural Uganda, and has partnered with international researchers in some of these efforts. In addition, he leads and coordinate the addiction, psychopharmacology and geriatric psychiatry modules to residents at the department of psychiatry.

Conrad MuzooraDr. Conrad Muzoora, Senior Lecturer in Internal Medicine
conradmuzoora@must.ac.ug
+256772547175

Dr. Muzoora is a HIV physician-scientist with formal training in clinical research.  He has been involved in HIV care for the last 10 years with special interest in tuberculosis and cryptococcal meningitis. He jointly runs the TB HIV clinic and the infectious disease unit of the Medical ward at Mbarara regional referral hospital. His main research goals have been in the improving the diagnosis of Tuberculosis especially in HIV infected patients and the improved treatment of HIV-associated cryptococol meningitis. He has conducted three clinical trials involving cryptococcal meningitis and several other projects in HIV and TB. As a result of his expertise, he was invited as by the World Health Organization to participate in the writing the recently published Cryptococcal meningitis management guidelines. Additionally, Dr. Muzoora is the Mbarara site PI for two clinical trials: Ambition and RIFT.

Dr, OkelloDr. Samson Okello, Lecturer, Department of Internal Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology
okello.samson@must.ac.ug

Dr. Okello’s major research interests are cardiovascular diseases and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Uganda. Much of his work focuses on the evaluation of peculiar local risk factors for CVD and Esophageal cancer specifically in the older adults. In addition, he has been a co- investigator for the Uganda cardiovascular disease cohort study conducting epidemiologic studies of in HIV infected and uninfected persons to estimate the interactions of traditional cardiovascular risk factors, HIV per say and antiretroviral therapy as risk factors for cardiovascular disease in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past 1 year, he and his colleagues have published over six articles from their cohort. His research group’s publications have been key in informing formulation of national clinical guidelines.