Population Health Faculty
Our team consists of highly-skilled
multi-disciplinary faculty with expertise from the medical, public health, social, demography, statistical and policy sciences. Our vision is to contribute to the health of populations, particularly those most in need, by using a population health science approach.
Full-Time Faculty
Dr Anthony Ngugi (PhD, MSc, DLSHTM)
Associate Professor and Chair
Dr Anthony Ngugi is the Chair and an Epidemiologist at the Department of Population Health at the Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. He is a trained Veterinary Surgeon (2001, University of Nairobi, Kenya). He graduated with a Master of Science Degree in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics (2007, University of Nairobi, Kenya) and a PhD and Post-graduate Diploma (research) in Epidemiology and Population Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (2012, London, United Kingdom) on Epidemiology of epilepsy in five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Ngugi is a population health researcher with over 10 years of experience in health research in Africa. His interests include epilepsy, health systems strengthening, community health and maternal and child health and statistical aspects of epidemiology.
He has co-led a large multicenter study of epidemiology of epilepsy covering over 600,000 population in demographic surveillance sites in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and South Africa. Dr Ngugi has also been involved as a co-investigator in the Countdown to 2015 Kenya Country Case Study and Principal Investigator in the Countdown to 2030 - Kenya Chapter. These analyses are aimed at tracking country progress and its determinants towards the achievement of MDGs and SDGs targets related to Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health.
Dr Ngugi is a member of the International Epidemiological Association (IEA) and the Health Systems Global (HSG). He sits in the global Aga Khan University Research Council (URC), the Aga Khan University (Nairobi) Research Committee (RC), and the Family Medicine Departmental Research Committee (DRC). He also coordinates the Research Methods course for the Medical College in Nairobi.
Publications
Sayed S, Ngugi AK, Mahoney MR, Kurji J, Talib ZM, Macfarlane SB, Wallace T, Saleh M, Lakhani A, Nderitu E, Agoi F, Premji Z, Zujewski JA, Moloo Z (2019). Barriers and the role of Gender to accessing breast health care within a rural community in coastal Kenya. BMC Public Health. 19:180
Keats EC, Akseer N, Bhatti Z, Macharia WM, Ngugi AK, Rizvi A, Bhutta ZA (2018). Assessment of Inequalities in Coverage of Essential Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health Interventions in Kenya. JAMA Network Open. 1(8):e185152.
Ngugi AK, Nyaga LW, Lakhani A, Agoi A, Hanselman M, Lugogo G, Mehta KM. Prevalence, incidence and predictors of volunteer community health worker attrition in Kwale County, Kenya. BMJ Global Health 2018;3:e000750.
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Dr Eunice Muthoni Mwangi, (Phd, MPH, BEd Sci)Assistant Professor
Dr Eunice Muthoni Mwangi is a Health Systems Management scientist at the Department of Population Health, Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education and a Master’s in Public Health from Moi University, Kenya and a PhD in Health Systems Management from Kenya Methodist University, Kenya.
Dr Eunice is also a Trainer of Trainers (ToT) in Leadership Management and Governance in Health, and a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPA-K). Dr Eunice has skills and competencies in training and undertaking research in Health Systems Strengthening (HSS), specifically in the areas of Health Care Financing, Health Products and Technologies, Managing Health Workforce, Quality Health Services delivery, Stewardship, and Health Information Management.
Prior to joining the Department of Population Health, Dr Eunice was a lecturer, mentor and researcher at Kenya Methodist University, Department of Health Systems Management in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
With more than seven years of experience, Dr Eunice’s work on health and health systems research is focused on informing strategies for achieving Universal Health Coverage. She has published in several peer-reviewed journals.
Publications
Mwangi EM, Tenambergen WM, Mapesa JO, Mutai IK (2019). Citizen engagement in social health insurance purchasing, in selected counties in Kenya. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019;6 DOI: 10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20194171
Mwangi, E., Tenambergen, W., Mapesa, J., & Wairia, S. (2019). Role of County Health Governance in Implementation of Social Insurance National Scheme in Selected Counties in Kenya. International Journal of Professional Practice, 7(2), 1-14. Retrieved from https://library.kemu.ac.ke/ijpp/index.php/ijpp/article/view/41
Nelly L. Munyasia, Eunice M. Mwangi, and Wanja M. Tenambergen (2021). Promoting delivery of reproductive health services through legal support and capacity development of healthcare providers in a health provider network in Kenya. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of East and Central Africa. JOGECA | Vol. 33 | No. 4 | September 2021 | | 137-143 | www.jogeca.co.ke.
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Dr Rosebella Iseme-Ondiek (Clinical Epidemiologist)Assistant Professor
Dr Rosebella Iseme-Ondiek is a Clinical Epidemiologist at the Department of Population Health, Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa, where she teaches research and epidemiological methods as well as provides methodological support to research projects conducted by faculty and students.
She has more than 10 years experience in health-related research primarily focussing on non-communicable diseases. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Science as well as a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology and Community Medicine, from University of Newcastle, Australia.
Rosebella's current research activities lay in the area of the gut microbiota-immune system crosstalk in health and disease, and in particular finding ways to modulate this relationship to promote health and disease management in chronic ailments. She is also involved as co-investigator in studies focused on delineating and intervening upon sexual and reproductive health behaviors amongst various Kenyan populations.
She has extensive experience undertaking population based longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials as well as analysing large longitudinal data sets. Her competency also encompasses management of research projects throughout their life cycle from proposal development, implementation, close out, as well as manuscript preparation and publication. She also provides scholarly review of manuscripts for publication for various journals.
Publications
Iseme, R. A., McEvoy, M., Kelly, B., Agnew, L., Walker, F. R., Boyle, M., & Attia, J. (2018). A cross sectional study of the association between autoantibodies and qualitative ultrasound index of bone in an elderly sample without clinical autoimmune disease. Journal of Immunology Research. Volume 2018, Article ID 9407971, 19 pages.
Iseme, R.A., McEvoy, M., Kelly, B., Agnew, L., Attia, J., Walker, F.R., Oldmeadow, C., Handley, T. (2017). A Role for Autoantibodies in Atherogenesis. Cardiovascular Research. 113(10):1102-1112. Editor's Choice.
Iseme, R.A., McEvoy, M., Kelly, B., Agnew, L., Attia, J., Walker, F.R. (2014). Autoantibodies and, Depression, Evidence for a Causal Link? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. 40:62-79.
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Dr Roselyter Riang'a-Obiria, (PhD, MPhil, BA - Social Scientist)Assistant Professor
Dr Roselyter is a Social Scientist at the Department of Population Health, Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. She holds a PhD in Trans-disciplinary Global Health from Vrije Universteit (VU University) Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, Master’s Degree in Sociology and Bachelors of Arts degree in Social Studies.
Dr Roselyter provides faculty consultative support and training in Qualitative Research methodology, and community engagement best practices in research and innovations. She is interested in understanding human behaviour and how this relates to their adoption of innovations and to translate this understanding into informed guidance on developing contextualized policies and innovations that improve the social and health well-being of people in low-and-middle-income countries.
Dr Roselyter has over 10 years of teaching experience at the university level. Prior to joining Aga Khan University, Roselyter was a lecturer of Sociology and Community Development at Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya, where she mentored and supervised postgraduate and undergraduate students’ research projects. She was also involved in university research projects and held various university administrative appointments. In addition, Dr. Roselyter has worked as an adjunct lecturer for various institutions, and worked in the banking sector retail section, lately as a Customer Care Manager.
Dr Roselyter provides scholarly reviews of manuscripts for publication in various journals, and has conducted a number of qualitative and mixed methods scientific studies and authored a number of publications in highly referenced journals. Her research and publications revolve around maternal nutrition and health interventions, food and nutrition security, gerontology and sustainable development. Her current research activities are in the thematic areas of ageing and health, cervical cancer, and food & nutrition security.
Publications
1. Riang’a RM, Nangulu AK, Broerse JEW. Implementation fidelity of nutritional counselling, iron and folic acid supplementation guidelines and associated challenges in rural Uasin Gishu County Kenya. BMC Nutr. 2020;6: 1–27. doi:10.1186/s40795-020-00403-1
2. Riang’a RM, Broerse J, Nangulu AK. Food beliefs and practices among the Kalenjin pregnant women in rural Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed. 2017;13: 29. doi:10.1186/s13002-017-0157-8
3. Riang’a RM, Nangulu AK, Broerse JEW. “I should have started earlier, but I was not feeling ill!” Perceptions of Kalenjin women on antenatal care and its implications on initial access and differentials in patterns of antenatal care utilization in rural Uasin Gishu County Kenya. Moyer CA, editor. PLoS One. 2018;13: e0202895. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0202895
