Prof Amina Abubakar

Director​, Institute for Human Development​

Amina Abubakar is a full Professor and Director for the Institute for Human Development, Aga Khan University (AKU). She is a Senior Research Scientist at the ​Kenya Medical Research Institute/Wellcome Trust Research Programme and Visiting Academic at the University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry. She is a trained Developmental Psychologist with more than 18 years research experience working in rural settings in Kenya within multidisciplinary teams.

Margaret Kabue

Manager, Institute for Human Development

Ms Kabue holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Linguistics and a Master of Arts in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi. She previously worked as a Project Manager for the ​​​C​hildhood Development in Marginalized Communities (CDMC) project at IHD. She has also worked with ActionAid, KANCO and Plan International in Programme management, capacity development and advocacy. Her interests are in programme management, research, and advocacy in the area of child and women rights.

Rachel Odhiambo

Data Manager, Institute for Human Development

Ms Odhiambo has a BSc in Computing and MSc in Medical Informatics​. Rachel has dealt with data for more than 15 years at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research ​Programme​ and Aga Khan University in various projects. Her main interest lies in working with data and being able to ensure that it is properly generated to produce meaning as well as understanding child development from collected data interpretation.

 

Esther Chongwo

PhD fellow, Institute for Human Development

Ms Chongwo has a background training in Nursing and Public Health from Kenyatta University, a postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University, and a master’s degree in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is pursuing her doctorate studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), where she seeks to understand the risks and resilience in children from arid and semi-arid regions of Kenya and Tanzania.

Joyce Marangu

ECD Workforce Hub Manager
​Ms ​Marangu holds a B.A in Social Work from the University of Nairobi, an M.A in Development Studies from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, and an M.A in Development Studies from the University of the Western Cape. Her research interests include early childhood development, child health and nutrition, child poverty and social protection. She is also an Africa Early Childhood Development Network Fellow.

Gideon Mbithi

Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development

Mr Mbithi holds a BSc in Geospatial Information Science from Maseno University and a postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University. He was previously based at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programe, where he examined the epidemiology and outcomes of traumatic brain injuries among patients admitted to Kilifi County Hospital. He is currently working on a research project that aims to assess and support mental health outcomes among adolescents in Kenya and Uganda. His interests are in global health and epidemiology.​

Millicent Makandi

Research Assistant, Institute for Human Devlopment

Ms Makandi holds a BSc in Nursing and Public Health from Pwani University. She was previously attached at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research ​Programme​ while doing her postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods and has also worked at the Ministry of Health. She is passionate and keen to strengthen the maternal and child workforce’s capacity and foster a multisectoral approach to sustain integrated service delivery, thus promoting holistic growth in children.

Anita Kerubo

Research Assistant, Institute for Human Development

Ms Kerubo has a background training in Applied Statistics from Maseno University and a postgraduate diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University. She was previously attached at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research ​Programme​ where she worked on epilepsy-related data. Her current research interests are in adolescents’ well-being and their positive development.

Dr Vibian Angwenyi

Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Angwenyi holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Moi University and a master’s degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her joint doctorate degree in global health under the Erasmus Mundus programme scholarship was pursued at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Netherlands), Barcelona Institute for Global Health (Spain), and the Institute for Tropical Medicine (Antwerp-Belgium). Her research interests and expertise are in early child development, mixed methods research, health systems, and implementation science.

Nimo Jamal

Nimo Jamal is a Research Assistant at the Institute For Human Development, working on different mental health projects. She has been in the mental health field for five years and considers herself a mental health practitioner as well as a mental health advocate. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in psychology and counselling from KCA University, and a Diploma in Psychology from Africa Nazarene University. She is certified by the Kenya Counselling and Psychological Association. Nimo prides herself in working with individuals dealing with mental health challenges in the hopes of finding solutions through her work and research.

Anne Karendi

Ms Karendi is a Research Assistant at the Institute. She holds a BA in Psychology and Sociology and a Diploma in Social work and Social Development from the University of Nairobi. Previously, she worked with Concern World Wide in the Food and Safety program for children and mothers in the informal settlements of Nairobi. She brings vast knowledge in research and psycho-social interventions. She is passionate about children’s well-being and advocacy geared towards a safe environment and the provision of basic needs.

Daisy Chelangat

Daisy is a Research officer at the Institute For Human Development. She has a Master of Science degree in Applied Statistics from Kabianga University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Statistics with Computing from Masai Mara University. She has over 3 years of experience in data analysis, reporting and manuscript writing.  Previously, she worked at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust research program. 

Her professional interests are to use data to provide evidence for policy and decision-making and to foster high-quality research by ensuring quality data collection, plausible data analysis and correct reporting.

Adam Mabrouk

Project coordinator of the adolescent mental health study in Kenya and Uganda

Education Background
Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Public Health from Kenyatta University
Post Graduate Diploma in Health Research Methods from Pwani University
Masters in Public Mental Health from The University of Cape Town