Meet Our Board

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOREXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Margaret Gitau is Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and Director of International Outreach at the Institute for Digital and Advanced Agricultural Systems (IDAAS). She has extensive experience and expertise in environmental and natural resources engineering with primary focus on: water quality; integrated hydrologic and water quality modeling; and, data-driven decision making and management, including developing strategies and solutions for data scarce areas. Prof. Gitau has developed over 180 products from her work including peer reviewed journal articles, presentations, and datasets. She has given numerous invited talks and seminars, both in the U.S. and internationally. Prof. Gitau is co-founder and co-lead of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) Alliance for Modernizing African Agrifood Systems (2019-present) and the Founding President of the Mentoring Network for African Women in Academia (MTAWA). She is a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow (2020), and has served as Expert Committee Member with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University.
MANAGING DIRECTORASSISTANT DIRECTOR Dr. Clare N. Muhoro is the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at Towson University, where she plays a key role in advancing the university’s academic mission. Her responsibilities include leading academic program development, overseeing the Offices of Undergraduate Research and Competitive Fellowships,
and managing TU’s satellite locations. She also leads institutional effectiveness and the implementation of the university’s strategic plan, while serving as the accreditation liaison officer with the Middle States Commission for Higher Education. Dr. Muhoro is also a professor of organic chemistry, specializing in transition metals in organic transformations and the degradation of organic pesticides in tropical environments. Previously, she served as senior science and technology advisor at USAID, where she led initiatives like the Big Data and Analytics in Transboundary Water Collaboration in Southern Africa. A strong advocate for women in science, she co-founded the Mentoring Network of African Women in Academia and is a board member of COACh. Dr. Muhoro earned her B.Sc. from St. Lawrence University and her Ph.D. from Yale University.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORTREASURER Dr. Margaret Okomo currently serves as Data Science Lead at CDC’s Public Health Infrastructure Center. She has held several pivotal leadership roles at CDC, including Bioinformatics Lead for CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, as well as Vaccines Lead for CDC’s COVID-19 Data Tracker platform. Her extensive experience spans public health informatics and data science, microbial pathogen detection, outbreak investigations, and infectious disease surveillance. Dr. Okomo holds a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and Master of Science (MSc) in Genetics, both from the University of Nairobi, as well as a doctorate (PhD) in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Nevada-Reno, and Master of Public Health (MPH) in Applied Epidemiology from Emory University. She has published over 100 scientific articles, including journal manuscripts, book chapters, technical reports, and conference abstracts. In 2018, she was inducted as Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) for her scientific achievements, leadership, and contributions to development of science in Africa and globally. She actively mentors and provides career guidance to young men and women of color aspiring to become biomedical scientists
MENTORING COORDINATORMENTORING COORDINATION Abigail Ekeigwe is a Regulatory Affairs professional working in the Oncology Biotechnology industry. She worked with the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control, NAFDAC, for 20 years in various roles, including, laboratory analyst, head of the Counterfeit Medicines Laboratory, expert witness for the prosecution of counterfeiters, and Chair of the Quality Management Systems Steering committee. She served the Nigerian National Accreditation Services as an ISO 17025:2017 laboratory lead assessor. She holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University, U.S., in Agricultural and Biological Engineering [Concentration: Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Sciences (BIRS)]; Master’s degrees in BIRS, Purdue University and Clinical Pharmacy, University of Lagos; and a B.Pharm degree, University of Benin. She is a fellow of the West African Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists and a previous MTAWA mentee. She has won several professional awards and is passionate about access to safe, quality, and effective medical products.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMUNICATIONS 1  Amina Naliaka is an avid geographer with research interests in the geography of water resources. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Environmental Resources and Policy program at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her research is focused on the sustainability of human-water systems with the goal of advancing the understanding of complex interactions and feedback between social, hydrological, and hydrogeological systems. This is aimed at improving water decision making in the context of increased climate and socioeconomic variabilities. Amina hopes to continually produce research that makes a positive impact on the well-being of society and to inspire and mentor other women from underrepresented groups in their pursuit of academic careers.
COMMUNICATIONSCOMMUNICATIONS 2 Gugulethu Khumalo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland. She earned her PhD in Cell Biology from Griffith University, Australia, where her research focused on the pharmacodynamic, and pharmacokinetic properties of southern African medicinal plants used traditionally to treat chronic pain and inflammation. Gugulethu’s academic journey includes a Master of Science in Phytomedicine from the University of Johannesburg and a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Botany from the University of Zululand, South Africa. Gugulethu has earned several prestigious awards, including the Swiss Government Global Excellence Scholarship, Griffith University International Postgraduate Scholarship, and the FirstRand International Postgraduate Scholarship. Gugulethu has presented her research also at international conferences. Her publications in renowned journals including the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Inflammopharmacology and South African Journal of Botany have contributed to Medicinal Plant Research. An active member of the academic community, she serves as a reviewer for Pharmacological Research and the South African Journal of Botany
EVENTSEVENTS 1 Cecilia Wangari Wambui earned her B.Tech in Science Laboratory Technology from the Technical University of Kenya in 2016. She worked at the Leather Industries of Kenya as a production technologist for three years and at Premier Food Industry Limited as a Value Stream Leader for one year. In 2020, she received a VLIR-UOS scholarship to pursue a Master’s in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven, completing her thesis on female genital schistosomiasis in the DR Congo in 2022. She then worked as a junior researcher at the Africa Museum in Belgium on the ATRAP (actions toward reducing aquatic snail borne parasitic diseases in Uganda and DR Congo) project. In 2023, Wangari was awarded a PhD scholarship at KU Leuven, focusing on molecular diagnostics for Schistosoma and Plasmodium species using environmental DNA.
EVENTSEVENTS 2 Mercy Okezue has over 15 years of experience working as a GMP inspector, and a QC/QA personnel with Nigeria’s FDA (NAFDAC). She combined lab-based and regulatory science-related research for her doctoral dissertation to develop multi-pronged models to achieve higher efficiencies in QC lab operations. Working in a team with a salt screen project, Mercy synthesized and characterized 5 new salts of bedaquiline, for treating multi-drug-resistant TB. She is also the first author in several of her publications. Dr. Mercy Okezue was a Postdoc in the Colleges of Pharmacy at Purdue University and the University of Michigan. She is now an Assistant Professor in the School of Packaging at Michigan State University. Dr. Okezue’s Lab synergizes expertise in both regulatory science and pharmaceutical product stability to deliver real-world solutions to current medical packaging needs.
ADMINSTRATIVE SUPPORT

Jelioth Muthoni is an intern with Biovac-Cape town under Science and Innovation – Analytical Science and Development. She recently concluded her studentship program with the Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation and the South African Medical Research Council, mainly focusing on biopharmaceutical manufacturing. She has an MSc. Vaccinology at the University of Witwatersrand-South Africa and an MSc. Medical Microbiology from the University of Nairobi-Kenya. She worked with the Kenya Medical Research Institute – Center for Clinical Trials in various roles, including HIV studies and Human Papilloma Virus vaccine trial. In the studies she provided technical support to the research team in setting up laboratory experiments, analyzing samples and recording applied processes and procedures to meet various study protocol’s objectives, performed laboratory quality assurance and quality control practices. Her passion is on vaccine development and manufacturing.