Board of Directors

Walter Jaoko is a Professor of Medical Microbiology and Tropical Medicine at the School of Medicine, University of Nairobi where he is also the current Chairman of the Department of Medical Microbiology.

He obtained his medical degree from University of Nairobi in 1986, a master’s degree in tropical medicine from Liverpool University in 1993, and PhD in medical microbiology from University of Nairobi in 2001. He is a past winner of Glynn Williams Prize for highest performance in the master’s degree in tropical medicine program.
He has conducted research in a range of diseases including schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, loiasis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). His research focus in HIV has been in its biology, risk factors, biomedical prevention technologies and treatment. Currently, his main area of focus is in HIV vaccine research and development where to date he has conducted several clinical trials of several adult and paediatric preventive HIV vaccine candidates either as Principal Investigator, co-Investigator or a senior member of the research team.  He also has a keen interest in bioethics and recently awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Ethics by Stellenbosch University.

He has published over 130 articles in peer review scientific journals, and has over 20 years of mentoring and supervising masters and PhD degree students in medical microbiology and infectious diseases not only at the University of Nairobi, but also at Ghent University in Belgium, University of Oxford in the United Kingdom and Harbin University in China.

Nationally, he is a board member of several research and non-governmental organizations, a member of Infectious Diseases Control & Research Programme Committee of Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), and Vice-Chairman of the Expert Committee on Clinical Trials, a sub-committee of Pharmacy & Poisons Board (PPB) in the Ministry of Health, Kenya.

Internationally, he is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), a member of the editorial board of Current Infectious Disease Reports (an infectious diseases peer-reviewed journal) and a board member of Africa Capacity Alliance (ACA), formally Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN). He also previously served as a member of Developing Countries Coordinating Committee of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), and as a member of the scientific board of Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), among others

Alie Eleveld is vice chair of Nyanza Reproductive Health Society. She is Dutch National, but has lived in Eastern Africa for over 30 years, working in public health interventions and research programs  in rural Zambia, Congo, South Sudan and Kenya.  She is a Pediatric Nurse by profession and has specialized in Tropical Medicine and Public Health.

Alie holds a Masters in Public Health (2009) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is founding member of Safe Water and AIDS Project (SWAP), an award winning NGO, operating in Western Kenya training  community health promoters to do health promotion and door to door sales of health products to improve health and generate income. The organization has a well established research department undertaking various effectiveness studies with technical support from CDC Atlanta evaluating the health and economic impact of health interventions, products and technologies. Alie was decorated by the Dutch Queen in 2013 as “Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau” for her work in Africa. In 2014 she received the Crystal of Hope award at Life Ball Vienna, for making a positive impact on the lives of people living with HIV.

Robert C. Bailey, PhD, MPH
Secretary of the Board
Professor of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago

Robert Bailey is Secretary of the Board of Directors of NRHS and Professor of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), a Research Associate at the Field Museum in Chicago, and Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of Nairobi, Kenya.  Robert holds a PhD in Biological Anthropology from Harvard University and an MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University.  From 1984 until 1994, he taught Biological Anthropology at University of California Los Angeles.

He then worked for two years in the Division of HIV/AIDS at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and he joined the faculty at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 1996.  Prof. Bailey’s research and public health efforts have focused primarily on issues of human health in Africa and has included investigations of demography, growth and nutrition of Efe Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, prevention of maternal to child transmission of HIV in Ivory Coast and Thailand, risk factors for sexually transmitted infections and HIV in the Congo, Uganda and Kenya,  support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and risk factors for HIV in men who have sex with men in Kenya.  He was the Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded randomized controlled trial of male circumcision for HIV prevention in Kisumu with NRHS as the key Kenyan organization.  He has supervised studies in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Dominican Republic into acceptability and feasibility of introducing circumcision for HIV/STD prevention and reproductive health.  He has served on the Board of NRHS since its inception in 2002 and has collaborated with NRHS and FHI 360, the U.S. Government under CDC-PEPFAR, and the Kenyan Ministry of Health to provide a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services including male circumcision in western Kenya and to conduct operational research in conjunction with those interventions.  He is currently the P.I. for a study integrating infant male circumcision with community health in western Kenya with NRHS as the implementing partner, and is a co-investigator on most NRHS projects.  Bailey is Co-Director of the Chicago Developmental Center for AIDS Research, and he collaborates with investigators and policy makers from numerous countries and institutions around the world.  Author or co-author of six books and over 100 publications, Prof. Bailey consults on matters relating to national and international health and infectious disease prevention for the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UNICEF, USAID, CDC, and others.

Mr Collins Ouma is a Professor in Biomedical Sciences and until his appointment as the Research Scientist and Program Leader, Health Challenges at African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC), he served as the Director of Research, Publications and Innovations at Maseno University, Kenya, where he has also held many senior academic and administrative positions including Dean, School of Public Health and Community Development.
Earlier in his career, Prof. Ouma served as a Senior Research Officer with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) based at the Centre for Global Health and Research (CGHR) in Kisumu, Kenya, and within the National Institutes of Health-funded Severe Malarial Anemia (SMA) Project. A geneticist by training, Prof. Ouma’s work covers major health challenges in Africa including infectious diseases, neglected tropical diseases, non-communicable diseases, and health systems-related issues.

His work on the genetic basis of severe malarial anemia in pediatric populations has been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals including Nature, Malaria Journal, Infection and Immunity, Human Genetics, BMC Genetics, among others. In recognition of this work, Prof. Ouma received the Pfizer Royal Society Best African Scientist Award in 2010. He is a member of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences.

Currently at APHRC, Prof. Ouma leads a dynamic team of over 20 multi-disciplinary researchers working on four thematic program areas within the Center’s HCS Research Program: Non-communicable Diseases; Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; Health Systems; and Infectious Diseases and Environmental Health.

Alex Njeru is the Treasurer of the NRHS board. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an accounting bias. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya. He also holds professional audit certifications; Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA).
Alex has over 15 years of experience in finance, accounting and audit and has worked in development aid and commercial/private sectors. He is a specialist in systems set up and reviews. He is currently the Finance Director at Population Services Kenya, a nongovernmental organization involved in health communications and marketing activities.