Lester Kapanda-Phiri

Lester Kapanda is a clinical epidemiologist, public health specialist, and academic with extensive experience in infectious disease research, including HIV, AIDS, TB, STIs, and vaccine research such as rotavirus and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.

His research career began at the College of Medicine (now Kamuzu University of Health Sciences, KUHeS) in Malawi, where he worked with major research programmes including the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Research Project and the Malawi–Liverpool–Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme in senior technical and managerial roles.

Following his PhD training in Epidemiology and Public Health, he served as a lecturer at KUHeS, where he contributed to teaching and capacity building through workshops for faculty, postgraduate students, and research staff. He has over 15 years of experience in the design, implementation, and management of health research and programmes.

He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow with the SANTHE, and previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Stellenbosch University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in the Department of Global Health, as well as a senior research scientist role at KUHeS.