Affiliated Faculty
Prof Lukoye Atwoli
Associate Director, Brain and Mind Institute, and Dean, Medical College, East Africa
Prof Atwoli is a Professor in Psychiatry with extensive leadership, teaching, and academic research experience. He is the former Dean of the Moi University School of Medicine, where he excelled at building collaborations and partnerships between the School of Medicine and academic medical centres in Africa, Europe, and the US, transforming it into a regionally leading research and graduate medical school.
Professor Lukoye has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Moi University. His residency (Master of Medicine) in Psychiatry was undertaken at the University of Nairobi. Dr. Atwoli has a PhD from the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is a Visiting Scientist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and an Honorary Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town. He is an international Faculty member at the Global Health Institute, Duke University and an external examiner for multiple universities.
Dr. Atwoli leads and participates in mental health research locally and globally. He is a member of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys Consortium, which is the leading collaborative project in psychiatric epidemiology globally. He was also the Global Technical Director for the citiesRISE initiative (www.cities-rise.org), whose goal is to help make five cities mental health friendly (Nairobi, Chennai, Bogota, as well as Seattle and Sacramento). The initiative works with young people in these cities to increase connectedness, improving their coping ability by working to build resilience and hopefulness, and linking those in need to care.
Professor Lukoye has over 50 publications to his credit in academic books and in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he has supervised to completion 17 Masters Candidates and is currently supervising four PhD and four Masters students at universities in Kenya, the US, and Europe. Dr. Atwoli is a significant influencer of mental health policy in Kenya and on the continent. To this end, he has served as Vice President of the Kenya Medical Association and holds positions with the African Association of Psychiatrists, the African College of Neuro-psychopharmacology, and the World Psychiatric Association.
Dr Eunice Ndirangu-Mugo
Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa
Dr Eunice Ndirangu-Mugo is the Chairperson of the Nursing Council of Kenya. She is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the Aga Khan University School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa (AKU-SONAM EA). She has also worked as the Academic Head since 2016, before becoming Interim Dean on March 18, 2019 at the same institution.
Dr. Ndirangu graduated from the University of East Africa – Baraton, Kenya with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN). She later pursed her Master's in Advanced Nursing Practice from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and then in 2016, completed her PhD in Nursing Studies from the same University.
Dr. Ndirangu's areas of expertise and interest have focused largely on the sociological aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support, as well as health policy and nursing education. She has attended numerous conferences and published extensively throughout the span of her academic career on a wide variety of topics. As the recipient of multiple research grants, Dr. Ndirangu has continuously pushed for the advancement and growth of the wealth of nursing knowledge. She is dedicated to providing the best practice in higher education. Towards this end, she is pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching in Higher Education from Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. Apart from her current position, Dr. Ndirangu maintains roles as a reviewer for multiple academic journals, as well as sitting on a number of committees and working groups at Aga Khan University.
Dr Rozina Karmaliani
Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Pakistan
Dr Rozina Karmaliani is a longtime prominent member of the Aga Khan University, AKU. She is an alumna of the AKU School of Nursing and Midwifery (AKU-SONAM), where she did her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and diplomas in Midwifery and Nursing. She also holds degrees in Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Nursing and PhD in Nursing all from the University of Minnesota, USA.
Dr Karmaliani is the first SONAM alumna to obtain PhD in Nursing. She now serves as the Dean and Professor at AKU-SONAM and a faculty member for the Medical College's Community Health Sciences.
Dr Karmaliani also holds the prestigous Khatijabai Mohan Manji Dharolia endowed Professorship. Before taking on the deanship for the second time on December 1, 2019, she has held various leadership positions in the School and has led its undergraduate and graduate programmes. She has been steering SONAM to use its institutional excellence to advance nursing, and to engage and develop leaders and educators in healthcare. Besides Pakistan, she has worked for the development and promotion of higher education in nursing in East Africa, Afghanistan, Syria and Egypt.
Dr Karmaliani has received the Juran Fellowship Award for "Leadership in Quality" and the "Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals" from the University of Minnesota, amongst many others. She has also been a recipient of various national and international research grants. Dr Karmaliani's areas of research include women, child and adolescent health, with special focus on the prevention of gender-based violence, promoting mental health and preventing suicides from a health systems perspective. She has received various national and international research grants worth more than USD 4 million and has 50 plus peer-reviewed key publications in journals of international repute.
While SONAM enjoys the privilege of being the top nursing school in the region, Dr Karmaliani's leadership focuses on being a transformative force in improving health whilst developing and strengthening research capacity for the School, and further integrating research into education and practice. She is creating a shared vision for the School and empowering the faculty and staff to implement that vision.
Dr Zohray Talib
Associate Professor of Medical Education and Medicine
California University of Science and Medicine
Dr. Zohray M. Talib is Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Chair of the Department of Medical Education and Professor of Medical Education and Medicine at the California University of Science and Medicine. Her experience spans the field of medical education and global health, having worked with medical education programs in the US and across Sub-Saharan Africa to address the global health workforce shortage and to implement education best practices in low-resource settings.
Dr. Talib is Co-Chair for the National Academy of Medicine’s Global Forum for Innovations in Health Professions Education, an interprofessional incubator for contemporary issues in education. She holds visiting faculty appointments at the Aga Khan University in East Africa as well as Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda where her research has included examining the integration of mental health services into primary care. Dr. Talib is currently serving as Chair of the Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for the USA which provides social safety net services including a crisis line, mental health education, training and case management and community-based care for the elderly.
Dr. Talib is a practicing internal medicine physician. She received her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy from McGill University and her Doctor of Medicine from University of Alberta. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at the George Washington University. She is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Dr Nargis Asad
Associate Professor
Department of Psychiatry, Pakistan
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Dr Pauline Samia
Assistant Professor, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health
Interim Chair, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Kenya
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Dr Sameen Siddiqi
Professor and Chair, Community Health Sciences
Medical College, Pakistan
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Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta
Professor and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development and the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health
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Dr Zainab Samad
Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, Pakistan
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