Denis Okethwangu is a Field Epidemiologist with a background in laboratory science. He is currently a Research Fellow with the Building Stronger Institutions and Systems (BIS) project at the Uganda National Institute of Public Health. His current academic interest is in understanding the resilience of health systems, especially in Africa countries, where outbreaks of infectious diseases are rife.

Prior to his current role, he worked as Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health, a position to which he was seconded by Baylor Uganda. During this period, he pioneered a flagship project that integrated all surveillance activities conducted in the country, including sentinel surveillance. The National Integrated Surveillance System (NISS) was aimed at making all surveillance data available for decision-making by policy makers at the Ministry of Health. Earlier, Denis was Project Manager of the integrated community case management (of malaria, cough and diarrhea) and antenatal care (iCCM/ANC) project at the Makerere University Infectious Diseases Institute. Denis was also part of the team that worked to strengthen surveillance systems in Southwestern Uganda, where he worked as Disease Surveillance Technical Adviser at Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Denis has a wealth of experience in establishing and evaluating surveillance systems; infectious disease outbreak investigations; capacity building; and data management and analysis. He is well published, with over 14 publications to his name. He has also reviewed publications for reputable journals including The Lancet, Malaria Journal and Plos One.