Prof. Elijah Maritim Songok obtained his Bachelors and Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Nairobi, Kenya; a PhD in Medical Sciences from Kanazawa University, Japan followed by postdoctoral training in genomics at University of Manitoba Canada.

Prof Songok has a long and rich experience in research, innovation and mentorship  on infectious diseases. His first employment in 1986 was as a parasitologist at the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases at the Kenya Ministry of Health. In 1989 at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Kenya, he was deployed to Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) as an assistant research officer to support the country’s research and prevention efforts on HIV/AIDS. He rose from the assistant researcher level to the highest research position at KEMRI -Chief Research Officer, in 2010. Prof Songok international work experience includes Research Associate, MCgill University under Prof Mark Wainberg; Assistant Professor in Medical Microbiology at University of Manitoba under Prof Frank Plummer; Research Scientist at Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Scientist, Manitoba Institute of Child Health and Associate and Research Professor at Kanazawa University, Japan. In 2018, Prof Songok returned to KEMRI to head The KEMRI Graduate School, and in 2023, he was appointed as KEMRI’s Acting Director-General, Chief Executive Officer.

Among Prof Songok’s outputs include the first to pilot the use of antiretroviral therapy against HIV/AIDS in Kenya in 1996, discovery of new and emerging strains of HIV variants in East Africa and evidence that HIV resistant sex workers have genetic markers of lowered immune activation state. These findings have helped changed policy and direction in diagnosis, treatment and search for a vaccine against HIV/AIDS. His current research interest is on prevention and control of viral hepatitis in Africa.

Prof Songok has published more than 82 research articles in peer reviewed journals and registered two international patents. He has mentored to graduation 16 Masters and 9 PhD students. He has won research grants from diverse organizations like Canada Institutes of Health Research (CHIR), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Glaxo-Smith Kline (GSK), Toyota Foundation, Third World Academy of Science, USAID among others. Prof Songok sits in various local and international technical and advisory groups steering efforts for prevention and elimination of infectious and neglected tropical diseases.