ILRI Kenya

Corporate Services

John Nyingi was appointed deputy finance manager, general accounts effective May 2020 in the Finance Department of the International Livestock Research Institute(ILRI). He will be responsible for accounts payable/receivable management, financial reporting and audit. Prior to this appointment Nyingi was an accountant with ILRI and has experience in financial reporting, account payable/receivable management and payroll processing. Earlier in his career he worked with the Syngenta Foundation as an accountant. He holds a bachelor of commerce (accounting) degree from the University of Nairobi and is a Certified Public Accountant, CPA (K). He is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK).

Elisha Mutinda was appointed finance officer in June 2020. He has previously served ILRI in several capacities: under the Animal and Human Health (AHH) program as program accountant and under Finance’s General & Accounting Unit as general accountant handling treasury, payroll, FCRs, budgets, internal trading among other roles. Before joining ILRI, he served as income auditor with the Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi and prior to that as their AP & AR accountant. He has over nine years’ experience in financial management, accounting, budgeting, auditing, and project management. Mutinda is a CPA, holds a bachelor of hospitality management degree from Moi University and is currently pursuing his MBA in finance at the United States International University – Africa.

Phillip Ateka joined ILRI as stores officer in June 2020. He has over 10 years’ experience as a supply chain function professional. Prior to this appointment, Ateka was procurement coordinator at Free the Children, WE Charity. He is a member of the Charted institute of Procurement and Supplies (MCIPS-UK) and holds a bachelor of business management, procurement and supplies degree from Mount Kenya University and an MBA in strategic management from Kenyatta University.

 

 

Lydia Ngugi was appointed transport officer effective June 2020. She has more than 15 years’ experience in business administration and fleet management services and has been working under the Supply Chain Unit. Her role is to provide efficient transport services to ILRI staff, quick service delivery, logistics, recharges, preparation of reports and administrative duties. She holds an MBA in strategic management from the University of Nairobi and a business administration and management degree from St Paul’s University.

 

People and Organizational Development (P&OD)

Redempta Mueni was appointed administrative associate in ILRI’s P&OD Directorate where she was previously a temporary staff. Prior to this, Mueni worked as administrative and logistics assistant at Action Against Hunger-USA. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology and a diploma in project management from University of Nairobi. She brings on board wide experience in office administration and general support gained while working for various non-governmental organizations including Action Against Hunger-USA, Adeso, AMURT and other agencies in Kenya and South Sudan.

Institutional Planning and Partnerships

Annabel Slater was appointed digital media and content specialist in the Communication and Knowledge Management Unit. Prior to this appointment she worked in bioscience data curation at the University of Glasgow, science editing and TV research. She originally studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford and went on to obtain an MSc in science media production from the Imperial College, London and a MSc in medical visualisation and human anatomy from the University of Glasgow, Glasgow School of Art.

 

Animal and Human Health (AHH)

Ilona Gluecks was appointed head of clinical research facilities and the Contract Research Organization (CRO) Unit effective April 2020. She joined ILRI in 2016 as research facilities manager, in charge of both the ILRI campus and Kapiti farms. In her new role she will lead ILRI’s new CRO initiative as well as the clinical research facilities. She is a veterinarian by training from Giessen University with a PhD in epidemiology from the Freie University in Berlin, Germany.

 

Naomi Chege joined ILRI in April 2020 as research associate in the Animal and Human Health (AHH) program. She is involved in vaccine development and immunological experiments on East Coast fever and mycoplasma-related livestock diseases. Prior to this, she was involved in projects on intestinal helminths, malaria, leishmania, and schistosomiasis at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, and the Institute of Primate Research as a graduate research student. Her proficiencies are in epidemiology, immunology and molecular analysis with a keen interest in immunology for health advancement. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree and is in the final stages of completing an MSc in biochemistry and molecular biology both from Egerton University.

Richard Nyamota joined ILRI in April 2020 as research associate under the AHH program. Prior to this appointment, Nyamota was research assistant at the Institute of Primate Research under a research project within the Partnership for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) program. He has also worked as an MSc research intern at icipe’s Martin Lüscher Emerging Infectious Diseases (ML-EID) Laboratory under the world federation of scientists’ (WFS) fellowship scheme. Nyamota has laboratory experience spanning over five years and a keen interest in surveillance of neglected zoonotic infectious diseases. In his previous assignments, he oversaw optimization and validation of laboratory diagnostic protocols and undertook surveillance of various zoonotic pathogens in biological samples collected from human-wildlife-livestock interfaces and ecosystems in Kenya. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry/zoology from Kenyatta University and a master’s degree in biochemistry from Egerton University.

Rose Ojuok was appointed research associate in the AHH program in April 2020. Prior to joining ILRI, she was working with the University of Maryland President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funded (PEPFAR) HIV program as medical laboratory technologist responsible for offering technical support to Nairobi County health centres. Ojuok has vast experience in Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) analysis/Flowcytometry techniques, Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) molecular techniques and coordinating sample networking. She holds a BSc degree in Medical Laboratory Sciences from Kenyatta University and is completing an MSc degree in epidemiology at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases (ITROMID)–JKUAT.

Bernard Bett, a veterinarian with a postgraduate training in epidemiology, was appointed team leader, One Health Research, Education and Outreach Centre (OHRECA) in May 2020. He has been leading various projects on emerging and neglected zoonotic diseases under the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. His areas of expertise include infectious disease modelling, participatory epidemiology and disease surveillance.

 

Winnie Chebore joined ILRI in May 2020 as research associate under the AHH program. She will be involved in mycoplasma research, East Coast fever research and related projects. Prior to joining ILRI, Chebore worked as assistant research officer at the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Centre for Global Health Research in Malaria Laboratories. She holds BSc and MSc degrees in medical biotechnology from Maseno University.

 

Rachael Gachogo joined ILRI in May 2020 as research associate under the AHH program. She will be involved in developing and improving existing vaccines for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, contagious caprine pleuropneumonia and East Coast fever. Prior to this appointment, she worked at the University of Nairobi Molecular and Infectious Disease Laboratory. Her interests include application of molecular biology and genomics in infectious diseases diagnosis and research in resource-limited settings as well as economic evaluations of health systems interventions. She holds an MSc degree in health economics and policy and a BSc degree in medical laboratory sciences both from the University of Nairobi.

Kenneth Ruttoh joined ILRI in May 2020 as assistant to project manager in the AHH program. Previously, he worked as project administrative officer I with the Kenya Medical Research Institute collaborating with the US Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) for nine years. He holds a bachelor of arts (economics) degree from the University of Nairobi and is currently pursuing an MBA in strategic management.

 

Musa Mulongo was appointed platform coordinator of the Transformation of Animal Health Services and Solution in Low to Middle Income Countries (TAHSSL) initiative effective June 2020 within the AHH program. Mulongo joins ILRI from the International Development and Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada, where he was a senior program specialist with the multi-donor Livestock Vaccine Innovation Fund (LVIF). In this role, he was responsible for the technical management and administration of a multi-million-dollar portfolio of cutting-edge vaccine discovery and development projects with multiple international partnerships. He completed two post-doctoral research fellowships focusing on livestock vaccine development and mucosal immune responses to oral vaccines in malnourished children in poor settings with high infectious disease burdens. These were undertaken at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization – International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) in Saskatchewan, Canada and the Wellcome Trust Research Program in Kilifi, Kenya, respectively. He holds a PhD in immunology and vaccine development from the Royal Veterinary College of the University of London (UK) and a master of science degree also in immunology from Kenyatta University, Kenya.

Livestock Genetics

Gideon Kipkosgei is a systems developer who joined the African Dairy Genetic Gains (ADGG) project in April 2020 as research associate under the Livestock Genetics program. Previously, he was a technical consultant at SOFGEN Africa Limited delivering Fintech solutions in Africa and has also worked as a software developer at Data Integration Technologies (DIT).He holds a BSc degree in computer science from the University of Eldoret, Kenya.

 

 

Richard Dooso joined the ADGG project in June 2020 as research associate. He will contribute to the implementation of field research activities and production and reporting on research outputs related to improving livestock productivity in low input systems. He holds a master’s degree in microbiology and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and biotechnology from the University of Nairobi.

 

 

Jennifer Gitau was appointed research associate in the Livestock Genetics team in June 2020. She has a wealth of experience in management of large livestock databases having worked for different ILRI projects implementing livestock development programs. She will be responsible for providing technical support in data collection, collation, compilation and analyses of data related to animal genetic resources. She holds a BSc degree in agricultural economics from Egerton university.

 

 

 

 

Sustainable Livestock Systems

Sonja Leitner, who joined ILRI in 2018, was appointed environmental scientist in ILRI’s Mazingira Centre effective April 2020. Leitner has a PhD in natural resource management and life sciences from BOKU University, Austria, and focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient cycling in smallholder and pastoral livestock systems. She is involved in several projects in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Burkina Faso that aim at making livestock systems more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Her special focus is on soil health and manure management.

ILRI Ethiopia

Animal and Human Health

Solomon Aderu joined ILRI in June 2020 as research officer in the AHH program. Previously, he was a consultant in ILRI. He holds an MSc degree in applied development economics and a BSc degree in animal science and technology from the Bahir Dar University.

 

 

 

Tsega Berhe joined ILRI in June 2020 as research associate, animal health, in the AHH program. Before joining ILRI, she was working as associate researcher in animal health at the Southern Agricultural Research Institute (SARI). She holds master of veterinary science degree in veterinary epidemiology from Addis Ababa University, a master of science degree in tropical animal health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Haramaya University.

 

Feed and Forage Development

Tigist German joined ILRI in April 2020 as research associate in the Feed and Forage Development (FFD) program. Before joining ILRI, she was working as livelihood and disaster risk reduction specialist in CARE Ethiopia. She holds a master of science degree in plant sciences from Wageningen University, the Netherlands; and a bachelor of science degree in plant sciences from Haramaya University.

 

Fikadu Tessem joined ILRI in April 2020 as research associate in the FFD program. Prior to this, he was a research and development field assistant in ILRI’s Africa RISING project. He holds an MSc degree in animal nutrition from Woliata Sodo University and a BSc degree in animal science from Jimma University.

 

ILRI Vietnam

Animal and Human Health

Hung Nguyen is the co-leader of Animal and Human Health Program (from May 2020) and regional representative for East and Southeast Asia at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) (since 2016). His current research focuses on the link between health and agriculture, food safety, and infectious and zoonotic diseases with an emphasis on the use of risk assessment for food safety management with an integrative approach (Ecohealth and One Health). He is the flagship leader of food safety of the CGIAR research program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health. Prior to joining ILRI, he was a jointly appointed scientist between ILRI and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH).

Sinh Dang-Xuan joined ILRI in June 2020 as postdoctoral scientist on food safety and One Health in East and Southest Asia region based in Hanoi, Vietnam, under the AHH program. Previously, he was a researcher at Center for Public Health and Ecosystem Research (CENPHER), Hanoi University of Public Health. Also, he was a Joint researcher and consultant in ILRI, East and South East Asia Region, Hanoi, Vietnam.

His research focuses on the link between health and agriculture, food safety, infectious and zoonotic diseases with an emphasis on the use of integrative approaches (One Health and Ecohealth). He has been involved as a key researcher in several projects on animal health, zoonotic diseases and food safety in Vietnam, East and Southeast Asia. He holds a DVM degree from the Hanoi Agriculture University (Vietnam), dual MVPH degrees from Chiang Mai University (Thailand) and the Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), and a PhD degree in veterinary epidemiology from the Rakuno Gakuen University (Japan).

CGIAR Gender Platform

Nicoline de Haan was appointed, from 15 June, as director of the CGIAR GENDER Platform which is hosted by ILRI.  Nicoline has been the Acting Director since 1 January.  She led the team from eight CGIAR Centres that develop the proposal for the Platform that was selected by the System Management Board and endorsed by the System Council.

 

 

Summary of ILRI April–June 2020 staff appointments and moves