CARTA Newsletter (July-Dec 2017) CARTA NEWSLETTER July Dec 2017 | Page 3

CARTA welcomes Dr. Evelyn Gitau, our new director
of Research Capacity Strengthening Division
opportunities to optimize how GCRF research
can translate research into policy and practice.
“I am excited about the opportunities available for
growth at the Research Capacity Strengthening
(RCS) division. I am keen to cultivate this potential
to see that the division, which is doing a lot
already, does even more in research leadership.”
Dr. Evelyn Gitau was the program manager at the
African Academy of Sciences prior joining APHRC.
CARTA is pleased to welcome Dr. Evelyn Gitau
to APHRC, to lead the Research Capacity
Strengthening Division. Dr. Gitau joined APHRC
in November 2017 and has been on the move
ever since, most recently in Uganda for a two-
day planning meeting at Makerere University
for the next Joint Advanced Seminars. JAS 1
& 4 begin on March 5 and run until March 28,
drawing some 54 fellows for a month-long
residential seminar.
Since arriving to replace Dr. James Kisia, Dr. Gitau
has also represented the Center at a number of
forums, serving as a panelist during the Global
Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) meeting in
Nairobi from January 31–February 2, 2018 aiming
to showcase grant opportunities for researchers
from developing countries and the UK to discuss
Dr. Gitau’s most recent role was as a program
manager at the African Academy of Sciences,
where she stewarded the Grand Challenges
Africa at the Academy under the Alliance for
Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA)
program. Prior to that, she was part of the team
at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Program in Kilifi,
Kenya, conducting research on developing
biomarkers of disease among seriously ill children.
She earned her PhD in Life Sciences from the
Open University/Liverpool School of Tropical
Medicine in the UK, investigating neurological
infections in children living in malaria-endemic
areas.
Alongside her more than 15 years of experience
in medical research, Dr. Gitau is committed to
mentoring and supervising students, believing
that the next generation of research leaders in
Africa must be at the forefront of the continent’s
development agenda, in order to shape decision-
making and policy with evidence.
“Evelyn brings dynamism and great passion for
scholarship and mentorship to APHRC. She is
well placed to drive our strategy to produce
the research leaders Africa desperately needs.
We are thrilled to have her onboard,” APHRC
Executive Director Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi said.
Among her awards and accomplishments include
a 2015 appointment as a fellow of the Next
Einstein Forum, where she is the ambassador
for the development of Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics in Africa.
Dr. Gitau’s vast networks have brought her
positions on numerous advisory boards for
organizations advancing the agenda of research
and evidence generation in Africa. These
include the Independent Scientific Advisory
Board (ISAB); Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome
Trust Clinical Research Programme College of
Medicine, Blantyre, Malawi; University of Oxford
(MSc International Health and Tropical Medicine)
and the Investment Committee Grand Challenges
Canada. She re mains a member of the Steering
Committee for Grand Challenges Africa.
CARTA program updates
Emmanuel Oloche Otukpa: CARTA Monitoring & Evaluation officer
Emmanuel is responsible for the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities for
CARTA. More specifically, he will be tracking the research progress of CARTA fellows, their publications, and will
collect and analyze data from CARTA.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from the University of Jos and is currently pursuing an MSc in Epi-
demiology and Biostatistics from the University of the Witwatersrand. He was previously a technical officer at
FHI-360 in Nigeria in the Malaria Action Program for States (MAPS), where he implemented malaria control
and prevention programs. His interests include pharmacy informatics and pharmacovigilance. He is driven by
the sense of accomplishment that comes with surmounting challenges through teamwork. Emmanuel speaks
Idoma (one of the dialects in Nigeria), French, and a little Spanish.
Dr. F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé-CARTA focal person at Agincourt, University of the
Witwatersrand (Wits)
Dr. F. Xavier Gómez-Olivé is a senior researcher and the head
of field research at Agincourt School of Public Health, at the
University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He completed
his medical studies in 1990 and three years later, graduated
with an MSc in Tropical Medicine and International Health from
the Universitat of Barcelona, Spain. His first field experience
was in Rwanda (1996 – 1997) where he was a district doctor,
coordinating clinical work in seven health facilities and a district
hospital. He later achieved an MSc in Communicable Disease
Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine (1997–1998).
worked at the Centro de Investigação em Saude de Manhiça for
six years (1999 – 2004). In March 2005, he moved to Agincourt
HDSS as scientific manager and was promoted to lead the field
research program in 2011. He graduated with a PhD in public
health from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2014.
In 2014, he received the prestigious David E. Bell Research
Fellowship at the Center for Population and Development
Studies at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
His research interests include the health and wellbeing of
older populations, quality of life, functionality, multi-morbidity
of chronic communicable (HIV/TB) and non-communicable
His work in the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance (hypertension, diabetes) disease, sleep disorders and the
System (Agincourt HDSS) sites began in Mozambique, where he integration of chronic care in the primary health care system.
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