Elected: 2018
Country (Nationality)
Kenya
Discipline
Medical & Health Sciences
Bio
Sam Kariuki completed his MSc in 1991 and joined the Centre for Microbiology (CMR), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as an Assistant Research Officer. He obtained his PhD in Tropical Medicine from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 1997 and rose through the ranks to become a Chief Research Officer and then Director of CMR in 2011 and served in this position until April, 2018.
His research interests are in the epidemiology and molecular characterisation of enteric bacterial pathogens and antimicrobial resistance, including for invasive non-typhoidal salmonellosis (NTS) and typhoid fever, Vibrio cholerae and Escherichia coli. He has authored/co-authored over 140 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 3 text books on Antimicrobial Resistance and Food Safety. As chair of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Partnership (GARP)-Kenya (2009-present), he led the initiative to develop the National Action Plan for reduction and control of Antimicrobial Resistance (Published in January 2011 and updated in May, 2017), and I was a member of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Advisory Committee that advised Ministries of Health and Agriculture on policy on prudent use of Antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine.
Sam is the Deputy Director, Research and Development, KEMRI. He is also a Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute International Fellow and a visiting Professor of Tropical Microbiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, UK. He is also a visiting Professor in Tropical Microbiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and a member of the American Sciety for Microbiology. He serves as World Health Organization consultant in areas of food safety, antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease surveillance for the region, and a member of the Advisory Group for Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AGISAR) (http://www.who.int/foodborne_disease/resistance/agisar_members/en/).