Professor and Dean, Medical College East Africa
Associate Director, Brain and Mind Institute
The Aga Khan University
Nairobi
Dr. Atwoli is a professor of psychiatry with extensive leadership, teaching, and academic research experience. Professor Atwoli joined AKU on August 1, 2020.
Professor Atwoli leads and participates in mental health research locally and globally. He is a member of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys Consortium, which is the leading collaborative project in psychiatric epidemiology globally.
He was also the global technical director for the cities RISE initiative (www.cities-rise.org ), whose goal is to help make five cities mental health friendly (Nairobi, Chennai, Bogota, as well as Seattle and Sacramento).The initiative works with young people in these cities to increase connectedness, improving their coping ability by working to build resilience and hopefulness, and linking those in need to care.
Professor Atwoli has over 50 publications to his credit in academic books and in peer-reviewed journals. Additionally, he has supervised to completion 17 masters candidates and is currently supervising four PhD and four Masters students at universities in Kenya, the US, and Europe.
He is a significant influencer of mental health policy in Kenya and on the continent. To this end, he has served as vice president of the Kenya Medical Association and holds positions with the African Association of Psychiatrists, the African College of Neuro-psychopharmacology, and the World Psychiatric Association.
He is the former Dean of the Moi University School of Medicine, where he excelled at building collaborations and partnerships between the School of Medicine and academic medical centres in Africa, Europe, and the US, transforming it into a regionally leading research and graduate medical school.
Professor Atwoli has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Moi University. His residency (Master of Medicine) in Psychiatry was undertaken at the University of Nairobi. Dr. Atwoli also has a PhD from the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is a visiting scientist at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and an honorary associate professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town. He is an international faculty member at the Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, and an external examiner for multiple universities.
Professor Atwoli arrived at AKU in the midst of a global pandemic. Given his experience and research credentials, and through his gentle but firm leadership, he has brought a steady pair of hands to help the Medical College, East Africa navigate the challenges ahead.
