Njeri Wamas, noted Professor of Parasitology, wins the second 2018 Mandela Award
The Nelson Mandela Distinguished Africanist Award is awarded to a leader who has distinguished him/herself in public leadership positions. The awardee must be known for the promotion of freedom for Africans both at the national and international levels. He/she must have shown resilience, courage and determination in the pursuit of African liberation.
This year's recipient, as announced by the TOFAC Board on July 5, 2018, is Professor Njeri Wamas. The ceremony was presided over by Dr Kihara of United States International University-Africa, with the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Paul Zeleza, in attendance. Professor Veney Cassandra, Chairperson of the Local Organizing Committee and Head of Department of International Relations, congratulated the recipient.
Professor Wamas trained in the United States, receiving her BSc in Parasitology and Medical Entomology from Bowling Green State University in 1980, the MSc in Public Health at Tulane in 1985, and the PhD also from Tulane in 1995. She was later inducted into the Institute of Directors (IoD), with the privilege of being able to practice as a Director anywhere in the Commonwealth.
No one could have expected the prodigious career that followed after 1995, with service in various journals and professional associations. She is at the moment a member of the Commonwealth Institute of Directors in Kenya, the Pan Africa Mosquito Control Association, and the Christian and Scientific Association of Kenya.
Respected for her scholarship, she is a Professor of Parasitology and Dean, School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, United States International University-Africa. She continues to conduct research while administering the faculty and teaching a variety of courses. An active researcher, she has published over sixty peer-reviewed journal essays. She has supervised numerous postgraduate students and continues with research activities in neglected tropical and zoonotic diseases as well as examining theses/dissertations and supervising graduate students at local and international universities.
She discharges enormous amount of academic responsibility—she engages in reviewing manuscripts for various local and international journals, mentors faculty and makes herself available to her numerous students. She serves as a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) as an advisor on tropical diseases. She has attended numerous international meetings where she served as a keynote speaker.
Professor Wamas has held several senior management positions in various academic institutions, including a visiting Professorship at Nagasaki University, Japan as well as Guest Researcher, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA.
Within and outside of the academy, her services are legion and legendary. This citation can only list a few: a member of the WHO (Geneva), Expert Committee, Parasitic Diseases (Filariasis) and Africa Region NTD Program Review Group; Chairperson, Kenya National Guinea Worm Eradication Certification Committee (KNGWECC); Board Member, Operation Eyesight Universal; Member, Advisory Board-THRIVE; inaugural Board Chairperson, National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI); Member, Steering Group, Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis; and Member of Africa Region NTD Program Review Group. She is the Founding Director, Eastern and Southern Africa Centre of International Parasite Control (ESACIPAC). Chief Research Officer, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and first and only female Director, Centre for Microbiology Research (CMR), KEMRI.
The TOFAC Board is not the first to recognize her accomplishments. Indeed, she is already an Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS), a prestigious commendation by the Head of State of Kenya. With this prestigious and famous award, Professor Wamas is recognized as one of our most preeminent leaders, a person we look forward to in leading us to the next level of transformation. In endorsing the nomination of Professor Wamas, the TOFAC Board notes her commitment to research, her integrity, her productivity, and her sincere passion for everything that is good about Africa. Always brimming with empathy and wit, wisdom and insights, Professor Wamas is a frontline leader who is a pride to Kenya, Africa, and all Africans in the diaspora.
Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
104 Inner Campus Drive
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222 (fax)
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