Joshua Kayiwa is a medical statistician by training, with a high specialization in the management for outbreaks of tropical infectious diseases, coupled with a glowing passion for the design, implementation of epidemiological investigations, analysis of the resulting data. His profile is stamped with sixteen years of progressive career growth in Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM), Clinical Data Management (CDM), statistical programing / analysis, post-graduate tutoring; eight years while serving in leadership positions, which involved leading teams to achieve pre-defined targets; over 30 scientific manuscripts which are currently published in peer-reviewed journals, among other achievements.

After earning his MSc in Medical Statistics from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in 2009, Joshua headed back home in Uganda, East Africa from where he has been operating to date. Most of his time is spent while ensuring the correct pieces of data from epidemiological studies, clinical trials, public health emergencies and routine surveillance programs are availed to analysts. He has also undertaken several other on-the-job trainings, leading to the award of two diplomas in PHEM and M&E.

Currently, Joshua is based at the local Ministry of Health within the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC), under the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) within the information management section. This post has seen him contribute to the successful control of the several infectious diseases in Uganda, including Ebola Virus Disease, Marburg Virus Disease, Rift Valley Fevers, Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fevers, Yellow Fevers, Anthrax, Measles, cholera, Dengue Fever, Influenzas, West Nile Fever, Plague, among others. Currently, the PHEOC is actively involved in mounting appropriate response to the COVID19 pandemic, alongside other activations. Joshua also heads the team overseeing the country’s electronic Integrated Diseases Surveillance and Response (eIDSR), a system overseeing all epidemiological surveillance for any potential outbreaks, leading to the mounting of appropriate and timely responses to diseases outbreaks.

For the past ten years, Joshua has actively served as an online tutor at the LSHTM, where he lectures on the MSc. Epidemiology program under the ‘Statistical Methods in Epidemiology’ module. Joshua looks back in time, while serving in this capacity, and all he can recall are the wonderful challenges the tutoring journey has brought his way, and how satisfied he feels by helping students achieve their learning objectives.