Aga Khan University (AKU)
Aga Khan University (AKU) is a private, autonomous, not-for-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It is science-based and serves as a focal point for leadership, expertise, and coordination to address public health concerns in line with global health security requirements. AKU commenced operations in 1983 in Pakistan and expanded to East Africa in 2000, with campuses in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Its primary objective is to promote evidence-based public health practices, conduct impactful research, and enhance the capacity of health professionals in the developing world.
The BRIDGE NETWORK Node in Women and Child Health (CoEWCH) was established in 2012 as a research unit within the obstetrics and gynaecology department of the Aga Khan University (AKU) with Prof Zulfiqar A Bhutta as the Founding Director. In 2015, Prof Marleen Temmerman was welcomed as the East Africa (EA) Director of the Centre to build capacity across East Africa. CoEWCH EA conducts research, knowledge translation, capacity building, and evidence-based advocacy in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and rights to improve the health and wellbeing of women, children, and adolescents. With a focus on establishing high quality education, multidisciplinary research, and trainings in women, child, and adolescent health, the Centre contributes to health systems strengthening and quality of care, particularly in remote groups and vulnerable populations.
Vision: The Aga Khan University will be an autonomous, international institution of distinction, primarily serving the developing world and Muslim societies in innovative and enduring ways.
Mission: The Aga Khan University is committed to the development of human capacities through the discovery and dissemination of knowledge, and application through service.
TEAM LEAD: Work Package 4: Quality Assurance and Evaluation.
ADDRESS: Aga Khan University, 3rd Parklands Avenue, off Limuru Road P.O. Box 30270 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
PRIMARY CONTACT: Prof. Marleen Temmerman
WEBSITE: https://www.aku.edu
PHD FELLOWS ATTACHED TO AGA KHAN UNIVERSITY (AKU)
We have two PHD Fellows attached to Aga Khan University (AKU) BRIDGE NETWORK Node as below.
Andrew Karani Mwongera is a biostatistician and health data scientist working at the intersection of statistics, machine learning, and population health, with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds an MSc in Applied Statistics (2026) from Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, China, completed under the Chinese Government Scholarship, and a BSc in Statistics (2017) from the University of Nairobi. His three years in China also gave me working proficiency in Mandarin.
His master’s research compared ARIMA and LSTM models for forecasting health outcome trajectories across Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania using three decades of WHO data. Prior to joining BRIDGE NETWORK, He worked as a mixed-methods researcher and data analyst across health, social science, and development sectors.
He is a full member of the Statistical Society of Kenya and a selected participant of the 2024 Tsinghua University Global Program on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
He is currently a PhD Research Fellow under the BRIDGE NETWORK programme, based at the Aga Khan University BRIDGE NETWORK Node for Women and Child Health in Nairobi, Kenya.
His doctoral research focuses on applying robust causal inference methods to routine health system data, with cervical cancer screening and treatment outcomes in Kenya as the primary application, using HPV infection as the infectious disease anchor. Alongside this, he is developing interests in health data harmonization through the OMOP Common Data Model and Mendelian randomization as complementary methodological directions.
