Webinar: The research landscape of household air pollution, clean energy access, and health in Rwanda

Jeremiah Mushosho
Dr. Jeremiah Mushosho is a Climate Change, Environment, Renewable Energy, and Health Specialist with over 15 years of experience. He currently leads the Climate Change, Health, and Environment team at the WHO AFRO Regional Office spearheading initiatives that intersect climate change, health, and environmental issues across Africa.Dr. Mushosho is a Certified Expert in Climate and Renewable Energy Finance from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany. He holds a specialized MBA in Energy and Sustainability from the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom, a Master of Science in Development Studies, and a Bachelor's degree in Geography and Environmental Studies in Zimbabwe. Additionally, he earned a Ph.D. in Business and Management, focusing on Climate and Renewable Energy Financing from the University of Zambia.

Brian Chirombo
Dr. Brian Chirombo is the Head of Mission and Country Representative for Rwanda since October 2021. As representative of both the Global WHO Director General and the Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), he provides WHO strategic leadership in Rwanda in the policy, technical, political, diplomatic, advocacy and management areas. Dr Chirombo has more 30 years Public Health experience leading, managing and implementing development and cooperation programs at national, regional and international levels. He has extensive experience working with Governments, Academia, International NGOs and the UN in many countries.

Alphonsine Mukamunana
Ms Alphonsine Mukamunana, is a Public Health and Environmental Health Specialist at the Ministry of Health in Rwanda, with 15 years of expertise in coordinating, planning, implementing, and monitoring public health initiatives. Her areas of specialization include food safety and hygiene, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), infection prevention and control (IPC), household air pollution, behavior change communication (BCC), environmental health services, and the promotion of community health at both central and decentralized levels. Alphonsine holds a Master of Public Health, a Bachelor’s Degree in Community Health Development with a focus on Environmental Health Sciences, a Diploma in the same field, and a Certificate in Biochemistry.

Theopista John Kabuteni
Dr Kabuteni has over 23 years of working experience with the World Health Organization at National and International levels in the area of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn Child and Adolescent Health programming, Health Systems strengthening, Policy and Leadership and Governance. Currently, Dr Kabuteni is working as a Technical Officer at WHO Rwanda Country Office responsible for programming and monitoring Sexual Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health and a Team Lead for the Universal Life Course and Health Population Clusters which also include Determinants of health programmes such as Risk factors for Nutrition, Environment, Water Hygiene & Sanitation and Climate & Health.

Thomas Clasen
Thomas Clasen, an environmental epidemiologist, is the Rose Salamone Gangarosa Professor of Environmental Health at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University. His research includes randomized controlled field trials to assess the health impact of water, and sanitation interventions, systematic reviews of water quality and sanitation interventions to prevent diarrhoeal disease and enteric infection, cost effectiveness analyses and project evaluations.  Prof. Clasen holds an MSc (Control of Infectious Diseases) and PhD from the University of London; he also holds a JD (Law) from Georgetown University. 

Ajay ​Pillarisetti
Ajay Pillarisetti is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Health in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley. He received a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from Berkeley and an MPH in Global Environmental Health and BS in Biology from Emory University. Dr. Pillarisetti’s research focuses on measuring and modeling the health, climate, and economic impacts of air pollution, with a focus on household energy use and related behaviors in low- and middle-income countries. He has over fifteen years of experience working on global environmental health research, practice, and capacity building in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with a recent focus on making science-backed, policy-relevant recommendations on the benefits of clean energy transitions at scale. His work has been funded by the US National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, US EPA, the Clean Cooking Alliance, and a Fulbright student research grant, among others.

John Volckens
Dr. John Volckens is a professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Center for Energy Development and Health at Colorado State University (CSU). He holds affiliate appointments in Environmental Health, Biomedical Engineering, the Colorado School of Public Health, and the CSU Energy Institute. His research interests involve air quality, low-cost sensors, exposure science, and air pollution-related disease. He is a founding member of the CSU Partnership for Air Quality, Climate, and Health – an organization that seeks to develop practical, science-vetted solutions to intertwined problems of air quality, climate, and health that we face as a society.

Clarisse Musanabaganwa
Dr. Clarisse Musanabaganwa holds a PhD in medical sciences from Radboud University Netherlands. She  holds a masters of science in epidemiology from university of Rwanda and second masters in international public health from Manchester metropolitan university/UK as well as a bachelor of science in biotechnology, biochemistry and genetics engineering from Bangalore university/India. She is Next Generation Scientist at Novartis/Switzerland and an affiliate of the center of human genetics at the University of Rwanda. Dr Clarisse has been serving in leadership positions of shaping the national research agenda and innovation for the health sector for more than 14 years where she currenly occupy the  position of Medical Research Analyist.

Bernard Mutariyani
Bernard Mutariyani is the Project Manager for CLEAN-Air(Africa) based at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, leading research on air pollution and clean energy access. With over ten years of experience in public health research, Bernard has played pivotal roles in randomized controlled trials and air pollution monitoring, including the HAPIN trial, the DelAgua/Tubeho Neza program, and CLEAN-Air(Africa). His work focuses on understanding the impacts of household air pollution. Additionally, Bernard has managed large-scale field surveys and research initiatives in Rwanda, effectively engaging with stakeholders to ensure the successful execution of these projects.

Reverien Rutayisire
Rutayisire Reverien is a PhD student under the RBC-CAA Project and academic staff at University of Rwanda/College of Medicine and Health Sciences. His academic journey has been focused in Public Health, where he has developed a keen interest in the application of Epidemiology in healthcare. He is currently interested in air pollution monitoring in schools and the health impacts associated with exposure to PM2.5 and other pollutants. His research focuses on understanding how air quality affects the health of cooks, students and teachers in urban and rural environments. He aims to investigate the effectiveness of real-time monitoring systems in schools to mitigate exposure risks and promote healthier learning environments. This includes exploring the relationship between air pollution levels and respiratory health outcomes, as well as developing strategies for schools to implement effective air quality management practices.

Emery Hezagira
He holds a Master’s degree in Public Health (Global Health). He is a Public Health professional with more than 14 years of experience in implementing and supporting community health programs in Rwanda. He is currently Director of Community Health Program at Rwanda Biomedical Center. He benefitted from different national and international courses in Community Health. He supported the Community Health program through various national and international workshops. He participated in several National Policy Dialogues organized by the Ministry of Health and partners. My interest areas remain in Community health interventions.

Heather Rohani-Adair
Heather Adair-Rohani currently leads the work on air quality, energy and health at the World Health Organization Headquarters. She has led the establishment of the Health and Energy Platform of Action, and the High-level Coalition on Health and Energy. She co-led the coordination and development of the WHO guidelines for indoor air quality: household fuel combustion and is currently overseeing the work to support countries in the implementation of these Guidelines through the Clean Household Energy Solutions Toolkit.  She also actively participates and represents WHO at various global initiatives focused on health, air pollution and energy like UN Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, Inter-Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators, and the Global Strategy for Women, Children and Adolescent Health.