Dr Ongeri is a psychiatrist and a scientist in the final stage of completing her PhD in suicidal behaviour among persons with psychotic disorders at Vrije University in the Netherlands. She holds a Master of Medicine degree in Psychiatry and a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Nairobi, 2011 and 2006, respectively. Her expertise includes clinical research and development, public health and epidemiology, policy formulation, data analysis, and monitoring and evaluation. Her research interest is in designing and implementing appropriate cultural and regional research models that integrate mental health in primary health care.

Currently, Dr Ongeri heads the mental health division at the Centre for Clinical Research in KEMRI. She is a member of the Taskforce on Mental Health in Kenya and collaborates with and guides the Ministry of Health Technical Working Group at the national and county level. She is also an investigator on several studies that include: 1) testing strategies for integrating non-specialist delivery of evidence-based interventions for depression and/or trauma-disorder with primary care services at public sector hospitals; and 2) analysing neuropsychiatric genetics of African populations. The latter is funded by the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

She has been a co-investigator in other studies exploring psychotherapy for HIV+ women affected by gender based violence, prevalence of post-partum depression among women attending selected maternal and child health clinics, and mental health assessment in primary care facilities.