Andrew Walakira, PhD

Dr. Andrew Walakira is a bioinformatician, data scientist, computational biologist, and molecular biologist whose research integrates artificial intelligence, genomics, and systems biology to address major infectious diseases. His work focuses on developing innovative computational methods to investigate pathogen evolution, antimicrobial resistance, genomic epidemiology, and precision public health, with a particular emphasis on malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and other high-burden infectious diseases in Africa. He holds a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, an MSc in Statistics and Bioinformatics from Hasselt University, Belgium, and an MSc in Molecular Biology from Makerere University, Uganda. His interdisciplinary expertise spans molecular biology, systems biology, genomics, bioinformatics, biostatistics, and artificial intelligence, enabling the integration of multi-omics, epidemiological, and clinical data to address complex biomedical and public health challenges. His research encompasses biomarker discovery, molecular epidemiology, pathogen evolution, drug resistance, and the development of AI-driven decision-support systems for disease surveillance and precision medicine. He has contributed to multidisciplinary research on antimicrobial resistance, malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, mpox, Ebola virus disease, and other emerging pathogens. Beyond research, he is committed to strengthening scientific capacity in Africa through postgraduate training, mentorship, and the development of sustainable bioinformatics infrastructure to advance precision public health, strengthen disease surveillance, and accelerate evidence-based decision-making across the continent.