William Kilembe

William Kilembe is a Project Director at the Center for Family Health Research in Zambia (CFHRZ) in Lusaka, which is one of the Rwanda Zambia Health Research Group (RZHRG) sites in Zambia. He trained as a medical doctor at University of Zambia School Of Medicine; has MSc in Clinical Trials and an MSc in Infectious Disease from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Kilembe serves as PI on epidemiology studies and clinical trials at CFHRZ and his research career has focused on studies that contribute to AIDS vaccine development i.e. characterisation of transmitted founder viruses and respective immune responses. He has led work on prospective cohort studies of stable heterosexual couples and at-risk women for HIV to understand risk factors for HIV acquisition and has implemented programmes targeting couples that aim at mitigating these risks. Kilembe has also led research studies to understand acute immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 and natural history of the disease and will be conducting COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic clinical trials. Kilembe’s work at CFHRZ contributes to finding cost effective strategies to address public health problems that affect many communities in Zambia and the region.