International Advisory Board

Prof. Margaret Hutchinson,

Chairperson

Prof. Hutchinson is a full Professor of Horticulture and is currently the Associate Vice Chancellor (Research, Innovation and Enterprise) and immediate former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance, Planning and Development) at the University of Nairobi. Prof. Hutchinson has held several administrative positions at the University over the years. Prof. also teaches and conducts research and outreach programs in Horticulture and Agriculture related as well as Gender Courses and holds several other positions.

Dr Eva Njenga

Board member

Dr Eva Njenga, MBS, is a world-renowned endocrinologist with vast experience and knowledge in tropical medicine, social medicine and medical anthropology. She is the immediate former chair of the Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance of Kenya (NCDA-K), and the Chairperson of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board. She is the founder and director of the Diabetes Management and Information Centre (DMI) which has made an immense impact on diabetes information awareness in Kenya since 1999 through its community and school programmes.

Prof. Alta Schutte

Board member

Alta (Aletta E.) Schutte PhD FESC FRRSAf ISHF is SHARP Professor and Principal Theme Lead of Cardiac, Vascular and Metabolic Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at UNSW Sydney, Australia; with a joint appointment as Professorial Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health.

She has extensive experience working in population-based studies with a focus on raised blood pressure, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. She is the former president of the International Society of Hypertension and a well-known leader in the field of NCDs with significant work in Africa.

Prof. Glenda Gray

Board member

Professor Glenda Gray is a National Research Foundation A-rated scientist, CEO and President of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), and a qualified paediatrician and co-founder of the internationally recognised Perinatal HIV Research Unit in Soweto, South Africa. Before her appointment at the SAMRC, she was the Executive Director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, an affiliate of Wits University. She is a co-Principal Investigator of the National Institutes of Health-funded HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) and directs the programme in Africa.

Prof. Gbenga Ogedegbe

Board member

Gbenga Ogedegbe, a physician, is a Professor of Population Health & Medicine, Chief Division of Health & Behaviour and Director Centre for Healthful Behaviour Change in the Department of Population Health at the School of Medicine. Gbenga is a leading expert on health disparities research; his work focuses on the implementation of evidence-based interventions for cardiovascular risk reduction in minority populations. He is a Principal Investigator on numerous NIH projects and has expanded his work globally to Sub-Saharan Africa where he is funded by the NIH to strengthen research capacity and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. He has co-authored over 250 publications and his work has been recognized by receipt of several research and mentoring awards including the prestigious John M. Eisenberg Excellence in Mentorship Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Daniel Savage Science Award.

Prof. Charles Agyemang

Board member

Charles O. Agyemang is a full professor of Diabetes and Metabolism, Global Health, Public and Occupational Health, Ethnicity and Health and a Principal Investigator at Amsterdam University Medical Centres, University of Amsterdam. His research is focused on ethnic inequalities in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and NCDs in low- and middle-income countries. He is a project leader of the RODAM project – a European Commission-funded project on gene-environmental interaction on obesity & diabetes among African migrants. He is a fellow of the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) under the Consolidation Award programme.