Cotu boss Francis Atwoli's son, Prof Lukoye Atwoli, has been appointed the new Dean of Medical College at Aga Khan University.
According to a statement by the institution on its website, Prof Lukoye tenure will begin on August 1, 2020.
“We’re excited to welcome Prof Lukoye Atwoli to the AKU family, who will join us as Dean of Medical College, East Africa on 1st August 2020. Lukoye is a Professor in Psychiatry with extensive leadership, teaching, and research experience,” read the statement.
Prof Lukoye (pictured) is expected to lead the university’s Covid-19 research given his experience and credentials in research.
“Professor Lukoye comes to AKU in the midst of a global pandemic. Given his experience and research credentials, and through his gentle but firm leadership, he brings a steady pair of hands to help the Medical College, East Africa navigate the challenges ahead.”
Lukoye 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 Atwoli currently 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.
Qualifications
He has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Moi University, and a Master of Medicine in Psychiatry from the University of Nairobi as well as a PhD from the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Professor Lukoye has over 50 publications to his credit in academic books and in peer-reviewed journals.
Lukoye is also 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 currently the Kenya Medical Association vice president and holds positions with the African Association of Psychiatrists and the World Psychiatric Association.
