Damalie Nakanjako

Damalie is a Professor of Medicine, Principal of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences, and the immediate past Dean of the School of Medicine. Damalie holds a Bachelors Degree in Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) and a Master of Medicine (MMED) in Internal Medicine from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, a Ph.D. from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and a certificate in Leadership and Management in Health from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA.

Damalie has over 22 years’ experience in Infectious Diseases care, research, and training. She led several research, training, and mentorship programs including Makerere University-UVRI Infection and Immunity (MUII) program (as co-director) to build Africa’s capacity for scientific leadership in Infection and Immunity research and the Afya Bora Consortium for global health leadership training in Africa (as country lead). She is the Scientific Director of the Translational Laboratory at Makerere University’s Infectious Diseases Institute where she gives mentorship and scientific leadership of a translational immunology research group. She is the Director ADAPT, the One Health Network to bulid capacity for antimicrobial stewardship in sub-Saharan Africa. She is the Africa Lead for the ARUA Cluster of Excellence in translational research in Infection, immunity and inflammation; a collaborative network between the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and GUILD of European Research-Intensive Universities.

Research focus: Her research demonstrated chronic immune activation and persistent dysfunction of both the innate and adaptive immune systems irrespective of suppressive antiretroviral therapy in Ugandan HIV treatment cohorts; and she is part of the quest for an HIV cure for Africa. She has established a translational immunology group at Makerere and has mentored over 50 upcoming scientists at post-graduate, doctoral, and post-doctorate levels, to build the next generation of scientists in Africa and worldwide

Awards: Damalie won the 4th Fourth Annual Merle A. Sande Health Leadership Award 2013 in recognition of her contributions towards leadership and health care in Africa. She is also the recipient of the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) – Abdool Karim 2022 Award in Biological Sciences; which was designed to honor women scientists in Low-Income African Countries for their achievements in Biological Sciences.

Department
Internal Medicine

Research and Publications
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Damalie-Nakanjako
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0935-2112

Contact

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damalie-nakanjako-5a996b163/?originalSubdomain=ug
  • Email: damalie.nakanjako[at]mak.ac.ug; dnakanjako@gmail.com