Dr Catherine Mbaka Gitau, MBChB, MMed Senior Instructor and Section Head, Psychiatry
Dr Catherine Gitau is a Senior Instructor and Section Head, Psychiatry at Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. She has a Master of Medicine degree in Psychiatry from the University of Nairobi. She is a full-time faculty Senior Instructor and Section Head, Psychiatry, Department of Medicine at the Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. She has over 12 years’ experience in the management of various mental illness.
She previously held a faculty position at the University of Nairobi for five years where she participated in various teaching and research activities and was a fellow under the Partnership for Health Research and Training in Kenya (PHERT), an Epidemiology fellowship Programme.
Her main research interest is in integration of mental healthcare at the primary healthcare and all levels of healthcare which forms her main objectives in her PhD proposal. She actively participated in providing psychosocial support to healthcare workers during the COVID 19 pandemic, under the Kenya psychiatric association (where she held the position of continuous medical education coordinator) through weekly mental health webinars and in the establishment of the healthcare workers call center among others.
Dr Gitau believes in a holistic approach to mental healthcare, where individual patient needs are addressed and the dignity of the patient is prioritized as we provide mental health care services.
Dr Gitau is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Read more about her
HERE
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Prof Lukoye Atwoli, M.B.S., MBChB, MMed Psych, PhD, IFAPADean, Medical College, East Africa
Dr 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.
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Dr Sarah Kiburi, MBChB, MMed
Senior Instructor
Dr Sarah Kiburi is a full-time faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine, Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. She studied at the University of Nairobi where she completed her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) in 2009. Dr Kiburi earned her Master of Medicine degree in Psychiatry from the same institution. In addition, she has a Master of Science (MSc) in Addiction Studies from the International Programme in Addiction Studies (IPAS) in 2018 and an International Certified Addiction Professional (ICAP Treatment-II) in 2019.
Her main research interest is in mental health advocacy, mental healthcare at the primary healthcare level and addiction psychiatry. She believes in a multidisciplinary approach to providing safe and comprehensive care to our patients ensuring the highest quality of patient care.
She is a member of the Kenya Psychiatrist Association (KPA) and the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP).
Dr Kiburi is also a Consultant Psychiatrist at The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. Read more about her HERE
