Matilu Mwau | Senior Principal Clinical Research Scientist, Professor of Infectious Diseases
Kenya Medical Research Institute(KEMRI)

I am a Professor of Infectious Diseases and Senior Principal Clinical Research Scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute
(KEMRI). My training includes Medicine and Surgery (University of Nairobi), Tropical Medicine (Nagasaki University), and Clinical
Medicine (Immunology, Oxford University).
My interests include vaccine trials, molecular medicine, infectious diseases, immunology, virology, cancer, health systems, clinical
trials, disease surveillance, bioinformatics, and biotechnology. I have directed and helped establish infectious diseases research
laboratories (including a USD 1.2 million lab in Alupe), and I run multiple labs with ~30 researchers.
I have extensive experience in disease surveillance and outbreak responses. I co-led a randomised controlled trial (2013–2014) testing
a text-messaging system for immediate notification of notifiable diseases in 135 health facilities across Busia and Kajiado counties.
Facilities using mSOS had significantly more timely outbreak notifications (19.2% vs 2.6%), demonstrating that mobile technology
can strengthen surveillance in resource-limited settings. As Principal Investigator of the KEMRI–Nagasaki University SATREPS
project, I oversaw serosurveillance studies for Yellow Fever virus in western Kenya (2010–2012) and Dengue-2 virus in febrile
patients in Trans Nzoia. These activities aimed to improve differential diagnosis of febrile illnesses and build routine arboviral
surveillance capacity. I contributed to the development and field testing of a microsphere-based multiplex assay enabling simultaneous
IgG measurement for six pathogens (including HIV, filariasis, toxoplasmosis, leishmaniasis, and cholera) in health and demographic
surveillance sites in coastal and western Kenya. This approach supports integrated, cost-effective serosurveillance for neglected
tropical diseases. I co-authored analyses of Kenya’s national database on mother-to-child HIV transmission over nine years,
identifying gaps in early infant diagnosis and testing coverage—work that informs national HIV surveillance and prevention-of-
mother-to-child-transmission (PMTCT) strategies. As Deputy Director at KEMRI’s Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases
Control Research and a member of the End Malaria Council Kenya, I contribute technical expertise to malaria control interventions
and surveillance efforts.
More than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals have arisen from my work.
In my university faculty positions, I have mentored graduate students who have gone on to become independent world-renowned
researchers in infectious diseases, cancer, epidemiology, and health systems. I have supervised 13 PhD students and more than 50
postgraduates to completion of their Master’s degree theses.
In the corporate sector, I have been a CEO of public and private organisations, and I am a member of various boards of management
for companies and schools.
Outside of science and corporate governance, I play an active role in the renewable energy, hospitality, and agriculture sectors.