Lucy Muchiri

Lucy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Pathology, University of Nairobi´s School of Medicine. She has over 24 articles published. Her research focus is cervical cancer screening and diagnosis, as well as improving cancer diagnosis in Kenya. She earned her MMed(Path) in 1989 and PhD in 2010 from the Department of Human Pathology from the same department, and a postgraduate diploma in Biomedical Research Methods from the University of Nairobi´s Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (UNITID), 2007. Dr. Muchiri also has two fellowships: Cytopathology from The Health Sciences Center, University of Manitoba, Canada, 1991 and the other in Health and Behaviour Research from the Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA in 1993. She has been past Chair of the department, been an external examiner at various Universities in Kenya, Muhimbili College of Health Sciences, and for the last three years, Makerere University, Uganda. She was a visiting Professor of Pathology at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi from March 2016 to June 30th 2016.

She was a founder member and council member of the College of East, Central & Southern Africa (COPECSA), and held various positions in the council of Kenya Association of Clinical Pathologists (KACP). As one of the graduates of the MMed Pathology program, she has been instrumental in continuous review of the program, played a role in developing the MMed Pathology residency program of the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, as well as the three residency programs about to be launched by COPECSA. After her Cytopathology fellowship, she was instrumental in developing the only Master of Science program in clinical cytology in the East, Central and Southern Africa (except South Africa) region, now a flagship program of the University of Nairobi. Dr. Muchiri was a founding council member of the East African Division of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP).

Prof. Muchiri has extensive experience teaching, medical curriculum development and training. Her work in improving cancer diagnosis in Kenya has been shared in the East African region through the East, Central, Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HC) and is informing policy shift in cancer programs. This was after she jointly piloted a project funded by NIH-Global Health in improving cancer diagnosis by training medical and clinical officers to perform fine needle aspiration biopsies, bone marrow aspiration and trephine biopsies and successfully demonstrated that skills in cancer diagnosis can be transferred to other health care providers where there is a shortage of pathologists, increasing access and overall improving cancer care. 

Prof. Muchiri has conducted research on HPV infection and associated cervical neoplasia since the early 1990s and cervical cancer prevention among high-risk women in Kenya. More recently she was co-PI in piloting a HIV-linked cancer registry in two counties in Kenya funded by Grand Challenges, Canada. Prof. Muchiri has also participated in the Kenyan Ministry of Health programs in reproductive health (piloting the HPV vaccination in grade 4 girls), writing the national cancer prevention and management guidelines, and the National Cancer Control Strategy 2017-2022. She has been a consultant pathologist in virtually every major hospital in Nairobi, contributing to improving the quality of the practice of pathology. She is currently in active clinical practice. She is immediate past Vice-President for East Africa Region, AORTIC.