Pharmacometrics Africa: Uganda Chapter

Chapter Updates & News

Sections

VirTUAL
The VirTUAL Consortium (@VirTUAL_UoL) was part of the EDCTP2 programme supported by the European Union (grant number RIA2016MC-1606-VirTUAL) and ran from 2018 to 2024. The project was led by the University of Liverpool and brought together partners in Uganda (the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University College of Health Sciences [IDI} and the Joint Clinical Research Centre [JCRC]), South Africa and Italy.
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Maternal and Infant Lactation pharmacoKinetics (MILK) project
MILK strengthens existing collaborations and my existing work on HIV antiretrovirals by studying treatments for several priority infections (tuberculosis, malaria and maternal infection around the time of delivery) in breastfeeding mother-infant pairs.
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Uganda Chapter of Pharmacometrics Africa: Establishment of a Regional Hub
Presented at the World Conference on Pharmacometrics (WCoP) 2022, this poster outlines why establishing regional hubs for pharmacometrics training and collaboration can enable the development of strong, interactive partnerships and enhance pharmacometrics capacity in LMICs.​
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Lessons from the pharmacometrics Africa–Uganda chapter
A commentary on establishing a local centre of excellence for research and training in pharmacometrics
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Video Playlist

Who we are

The Uganda chapter of Pharmacometrics Africa is a community of professionals, students, and researchers dedicated to advancing the field of pharmacometrics in Uganda and across the continent.

What we do

We host a variety of activities, including online learning sessions, seminars, and workshops to support those who practice or want to learn more about pharmacometrics.

We invite stake-holders in pharmacometrics such as individual experts, the industry and academia are invited to collaborate with us!

Join us!

Want to learn, donate or just lend a hand? Send us a message and we'll get the conversation started.
Contact us

Our Team:

Francis Williams Ojara, BSc, MSc, Dr. ret. Nat

Francis Williams Ojara is currently Post-doctoral pharmacometric modeler at the Infectious Diseases Institute and a lecturer of pharmacology at Gulu University, both in Uganda. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Biochemistry; a Masters of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate in Natural Sciences (focusing on Pharmacometrics). His research has covered modelling of pharmacokinetic-(and pharmacodynamic) data in oncology and infectious diseases, with current interests in understudied populations such as the pediatrics and pregnant mothers. He has strong interest in training and mentoring scholars into pharmacometrics and establishing potent global networks to support the growth of pharmacometrics in Uganda and Africa.

Joshua Kiptoo

Joshua Kiptoo is currently a PhD Scholar at Makerere University, College of Health Sciences. Joshua joined the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) as a Scholar in 2024, and his doctoral work explores the use of Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic (PBPK) Modeling techniques to predict and simulate systemic infant exposure to first-line anti-infective drugs, particularly Lumefantrine, Bedaquiline, and Lamivudine via breast milk. Before joining to the Infectious Diseases Institute, he served as an assistant Lecturer at the department of Pharmacy, Mbarara University of Science & Technology. He holds a Master of Pharmacy degree (Clinical Pharmacy) [2018-2022] and a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree [2012-2016] from Mbarara University of Science & Technology. His doctoral work is supported by the Maternal & Infant Pharmacokinetics (MILK) project at the IDI, under the supervision of Professor Catriona Waitt & Dr. Adeniyi Olagunju.

Davies Otieno

Davies Otieno is a physician, and currently a PhD candidate at the Makerere University, Infectious Diseases Institute, exploring the use of PBPK in special populations, particularly pregnancy, post-partum and breast-feeding infants. He is an alumnus of the African Pharmacometrics Training program where, under the guidance of academic and industry experts, explored a disease progression model in early-stage Alzheimer’s disease using a novel plasma biomarker.

Aida Kawuma

Aida is a PhD Student and joined the pharmacometrics group in February 2019. She holds a master’s degree in Pharmacology and a bachelor’s degree of science in Pharmacy from Makerere University, College of Health Sciences in Uganda. Aida has previously applied modelling techniques to study efavirenz central nervous system side effects in African patients, as well as the dosing of a novel monoclonal antibody in a drug development setting. Her studies currently focus on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of dolutegravir, a new anti-retroviral agent that has been widely adopted across Africa.

Catriona Waitt, MBChB, PhD

Catriona Waitt is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Global Health at the University of Liverpool, and has been based at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University College of Health Sciences since 2014. Her research focuses on drug dosing, efficacy and safety in complex and understudied populations, particularly pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their infants. Her work draws together clinical trials, observational clinical studies, pharmacometrics, social science and public engagement and involvement. Because of the importance of pharmacometrics to study design and interpretation in these complex populations, her team emphasises continued capacity building in the discipline, including with the launch of the Uganda Chapter of Pharmacometrics Africa in 2021.

Our Chapter Partners:

© 2026 Pharmacometrics Africa NPC
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