Thomas Kariuki

Thomas Maina Kariuki OGW (born 1962) is the Director of Programmes at The African Academy of Sciences where he leads the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA). He holds an honorary Professorship at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicineand a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of York.

Kariuki grew up in Kenya where he witnessed firsthand the benefits of increasing accessibility to technology; many homes in his childhood village did not have electricity or running water. He notes that the roads in his home village are still not paved. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Nairobi and credits his good education for his successes.Kariuki considers education the greatest gift that a child growing up in Africa can receive.In 2004, Kariuki was awarded a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of York under the mentorship of Alan Wilson, titled Vaccination strategies against schistosomes in a primate model.

He is married with two daughters.

Kariuki served for seven years as director of the Institute of Primate Research and the National Museums of Kenya in biomedical research and conservation biology. His research includes the study of infectious diseases, and enabling the development of vaccines for diseases that affect areas of poverty such as investigating the influence of worm infections on vaccination outcomes. He has conducted research on the diagnostic development for schistosomiasis (Bilharzia), malaria and co-infections. He worked with David Molyneux researching neglected tropical diseases and has collaborated with Imelda Bates. As part of his role with The African Academy of Sciences, Kariuki spreads awareness about the rise of non-communicable diseases in Africa such as cancer, strokes, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, particularly between the ages of 30 and 70; “Africa is a young continent. We have the youngest people globally. We don’t know if the rapid growth across the continent is going to be a dividend or a nightmare,”

After nearly two decades in biomedical research as a scientist, Kariuki refocused his efforts into shaping policy and managing global partnership programmes. On March 7th 2017, Kariuki became the interim director of The African Academy of Sciences, following his previous role as The AAS Treasurer between 2013-2014. Kariuki shortly transitioned into his current role as Director of Programmes at The African Academy of Sciences where Kariuki leads the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), originally established in 2015 by The AAS and the NEPAD to address the funding and needs for the various health and development challenges in Africa. This transition was not easy, as Kariuki comments “Having created AESA as an agenda setting and funding platform, the shoe is now on the other foot, and I now have to dispense the same narrative and funders’ ethos to my old laboratory bench comrades, and hope they will not feel talked down to and estranged like I would occasionally feel when I dealt with funders.”The AESA works in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the NEPAD on the project Grand Challenges Africa. In an article written by Kariuki and Steven Buchsbaum, Kariuki comments that “the best way to make life better for Africans is to support great ideas from African innovators.”

In 2016, the Planet Earth Institute named Kariuki as a top 10 African Science Hero due to his “dogged work to train and empower world-class African scientists” through his role in AESA and beyond. This includes AESA's role in managing and running the DELTAS Africa project with support from the Wellcome Trust and the UK’s Department for International Development and the NEPAD, as well as managing phase 2 of the H3Africa programme.In 2017 the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine awarded Kariuki an honorary professorship in recognition of his past and present collaborations with the school, and his efforts to "accelerate world-class research, foster innovation and promote scientific leadership in Africa".

Kariuki sits on the advisory board for Gates Open Research, a platform for publication and open peer review of research funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He has previously held the position of President of the Federation of African Immunological Societies and served on the Education Committee of the International Union of Immunological Societies.

As part of his role in advocating African science, Kariuki regularly speaks to at international conferences including the World Health Summit (Innovation for Impact Panel Discussion, 2018) , the Next Einstein Forum (Learning to lead: what capacities do scientists and researchers of tomorrow need, 2018) , and the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Laying the groundwork for research and innovation, 2017).

Kariuki has spoken about the need to encourage young Africans into science careers due to 60% of the population being below 30 years old. His work with AESA addresses some of Africa’s most pressing development challenges through capacity building, training, and funding. In an interview with Planet Earth Institute, he highlights examples of these development challenges such as disease, access to water and food insecurity, and poor infrastructure. Also of note is climate change and changing weather patterns. Kariuki believes a measure of success will be “how many young, bright, brilliant scientists are actually living, working and thriving in Africa.” As part of this push for young African scientists, Kariuki is involved in school programmes to educate young people about science where he uses the example of Louis Pasteur to encourage curiosity, observation, and creativity.

• Fellow of The African Academy of Sciences, 2009
• Senior Fellow of the European Foundation Initiative for Neglected Tropical Diseases
• Order of Grand Warrior of Kenya for public service
• Named as Top 10 African Science Heroes in 2016 by the Planet Earth Institute
• Honorary Professorship from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (2017)