Moffat Nyirenda

Moffat Nyirenda is a Malawian physician who is Professor of Molecular Medicine and Director of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute. He has served at the Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence. His research looks to understand the aetiology of non-communicable disease in Africa. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2025.

Early life and education Nyirenda is from Karonga, a rural area in Malawi. He studied at Kamuzu Academy, sometimes described as the “Eton of Africa”. He joined the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit. By 2013, he was appointed London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Professor of Medicine.

Nyirenda has worked to build research capacity in Africa, and serves as Director of the Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE) and Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU). SACORE connects researchers across Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. MEIRU, which had originally been established to investigate leprosy, expanded to tuberculosis and HIV. Through MEIRU Nyirenda investigated the epidemiological changes that are impacting metabolic diseases in Africa. Better management of HIV means that people live longer, which means they can “succumb to non-communicable diseases at a much younger age,”. In 2025, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Selected publications