Dr Uzochukwu Egere

Senior Research Associate

Dr Uzochukwu Egere is a medical graduate from the University of Jos, and trained as a Paediatrician at the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria.

He holds a masters’ degree in Public Health from the University of Otago, New Zealand and a PhD in International health from Ludwig-Maximillian University, Munich, Germany. Uzoh worked briefly as a consultant Paediatrician at St Nicholas Hospital, a leading private hospital in Lagos Nigeria before joining the Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia in 2006 as a research Clinician.

At the MRC, he initially worked as a research clinician on a community randomized controlled trial of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in rural Gambian villages which assessed impact of community vaccination on pneumococcal carriage in children and adults.

In 2011, Uzoh joined the newly established Childhood TB Program at the MRC as the lead Clinician and Coordinator. In this role, he conducted household contact tracing, ran a dedicated childhood TB clinic and supervised a home-delivered isoniazid preventive therapy project. He was also principal investigator of a capacity building project funded by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) for training frontline health workers on management of TB in children.

In 2016, he led the first implementation of contact tracing and isoniazid preventive therapy within the routine health system and supported development of childhood TB control policies in The Gambia.

Until joining the LSTM, Uzoh was co-principal investigator and coordinator of the “Reach4Kids Africa”, a childhood TB collaborative research partnership of four sub–Saharan African countries – The Gambia, Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Uzoh joined LSTM in June 2018 as a post-doctoral research associate on the health systems/social sciences portfolio of the International Multidisciplinary Programme to Address Lung Health and Tuberculosis in Africa (IMPALA) project. This project focused on developing, implementing and evaluating equitable approaches to management of chronic lung diseases within the routine health systems in Sudan and Tanzania.

Research

Uzoh currently works as a senior research associate in charge of research design, monitoring and evaluation, and data management in the Global Funds supported implementation research for Quality improvement of integrated HIV, TB and Malaria services in antenatal and postnatal care in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. Other research interests include - Approaches to improving management of childhood TB in resource-limited settings with focus on contact tracing and increasing programmatic implementation and uptake of isoniazid preventive therapy - Chronic lung disease in children including post TB lung disease and asthma

Teaching

Dr Egere contributes teachings on Childhood TB, Coma and Convulsions in children, Lung health and HIV to the Masters in Tropical Paediatrics, Masters in Tropical and Infectious Diseases, and the Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene programmes of the LSTM

Dr Egere is -

Fellow, West African College of Physicians (Paediatrics)
Registered Practitioner, Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, Medical and Dental Council of The Gambia
Member, European Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases
Member, International Union of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases
Member, Global Health Policy and Systems Community

Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Egere U, Togun T, Sillah A K, Mendy F et al (2016): Identifying children with tuberculosis among household contacts in The Gambia. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2017, pp. 46-52(7)

      Egere U, Sillah A K, Togun T, Cole F (2016): Isoniazid preventive treatment among child contacts of adults with smear positive tuberculosis in The Gambia. Public Health Action, Volume 6, Number 4, 21 December 2016, pp. 226-231(6)
      Toyin T, Egere U and Kampmann B. “Childhood tuberculosis: new tools and remaining challenges.” Recent Advances in Paediatrics (2014), Vol 26; Chapter 1, pp 1-10

      Togun TO, Egere U, Gomez MP, Sillah AK, Daramy M, Tientcheu LD, et al. No added value of interferon-γ release to a prediction model for childhood tuberculosis. European Respiratory Journal. 2016;47(1):223-32.
      Egere U, Townend J, Roca A, Akinsanya A et al. Indirect effect of 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine on pneumococcal carriage in newborns in rural gambia: a randomised controlled trial. PLoS ONE 01/2012; 7(11): e49143
      Togun T, Egere U, Sillah A, Ayorinde A, Mendy F, Tientcheu L, et al. Contribution of Xpert® MTB/RIF to the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis among TB-exposed children in The Gambia. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 2015;19(9):1091-7.