Prof Leon Mutesa

Prof. Mutesa, is an MD, PhD and full professor of human genetics, currently working as Director of Center for Human Genetics that he created in 2006 at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences-University of Rwanda. He obtained his MD from the university of Rwanda in 2003 and his PhD in 2009 from the university of Liege-Belgium where he also completed his post-doc in 2011. Throughout his career he has been immensely involved in clinical services, academics, research, capacity building, and management in the health sector. He served as the Director of Department of Clinical Laboratory Dept. at the Kigali University Teaching hospital, which is the largest referral hospital. He has been Director General of Medical Research Center in Rwanda Biomedical Centre under Ministry of Health, where he coordinated health related research activities in all national medical institutions. He developed several research policies within the health sector and founded the Rwanda health research commission which reviews research grants and studies before approval by Rwanda National Ethics Committee. Prof Mutesa serves as PI of NIH/H3Africa grant–National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-Transgenerational Epigenomics of Trauma and PTSD in Rwanda (U01MH115485) with aim to characterize the transgenerational transmission of epigenomic impact of genocide exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in women survivors of the Rwandan genocide and their offspring.