Dr. Muhammed Semakula

Dr Muhammed Semakula is the Head of Department of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation, and health financing. This department oversees the coordination of health sector planning, strategic information, health financing, partner coordination, and health information systems through data-driven policy development, focused advocacy, research, and resource mobilization. He previously held roles as a health scientific innovation analyst, leading the response for COVID-19 data science and IT solutions, Senior Advisor on the HIV National Strategic Plan and Operational Plan, Senior Biostatistician, and research statistician at the Rwanda Biomedical Center. He also served as an Epidemiologist at the Royal Tropical Institute of Amsterdam (KIT), Netherlands.

Dr Muhammed Semakula holds a bachelor's degree in Applied Statistics from the University of Rwanda, a Master's degree in Statistics and Biostatistics from the University of Hasselt in Belgium. He has a Joint PhD in Statistics from the University of Hasselt and a PhD in Data Science: Biostatistics from the University of Rwanda.

He was a McGoldrick Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics, and a Chartered Statistician (CStat) at the Royal Statistical Society in the United Kingdom (UK). He holds multiple teaching positions, and his research focuses on Bayesian spatio-temporal and prediction models for infectious diseases.

Dr. Menelas Nkeshimana

Dr Menelas Nkeshimana was appointed by Cabinet as the Head of Department of Health Workforce Development in the Ministry of Health, Rwanda since July 2023. This new department is in-charge of addressing the current and the predicted shortage of health workforce due to insufficient production to match with the population growth rate and the complexity of global movements of the working class across different continents.

Dr Nkeshimana holds an MBBS (Hons.) from Tianjin Medical University in China, an MMed from the University of Rwanda, and a MSc. in Global Health Delivery from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. 

He has more than a decade of experience in clinical care and community outreach. He has occupied several managerial positions including serving as the Head of Department of Accidency & Emergency at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali, and he has led to major systems improvements to positively influence the clinical care delivery. He has served as the Lead of the Sub-Cell in charge of Covid-19 case management at the Rwanda Joint Task Force for Covid-19 during the pandemic and has been advising on matters related to case management for a variety of high consequence infectious diseases such as Ebola and Marburg which are endemic in the neighboring countries.

As the immediate past Vice President of Rwanda Medical Association (a position occupied since 2018), Dr Nkenshimana has worked on several portfolios spanning from the medical doctors’ welfare in Rwanda and promoting an active engagement on global platforms including the Coalition of African National Medical Associations and the World Medical Association (WMA). He occupied a similar position in the Rwanda College of Physicians, with the main mandate being to promote the welfare of physicians in service, and ensuring that they have access to all the necessary horizontal collaborations enabling them to sustain their knowledge and skills through regular exchanges and an open communication channel.

He is an avid health equity advocate and a published researcher, and has a strong interest in public welfare and policy-impacting research in low and middle income countries. He has served as a co-Principal Investigator on several competitive grants funded by the NIH, and others. His research interests are in Health policy, Global health, Health workforce development, Health diplomacy, mHealth technology, emergency care, vitamin B12 deficiency, sepsis & HIV/ AIDS, epidemic intelligence, preparedness and response. He strongly values multi-sectoral collaborations that aim to improve and preserve our population well-being in the context of “One-Health” and data-driven global health security.

Dr. Corneille Killy NTIHABOSE

Dr. Corneille NTIHABOSE is the Head of Department of Clinical and Public Health Services at Ministry of Health since December 2020. His department is responsible for coordinating the overall strategic management, policy development, coordination, oversight, and evaluation of health services. Further, the Department is accountable for the regulation and oversight of quality health services delivered at all levels, from the community to the tertiary levels.Prior to his current position, Dr. Corneille was Director General of Byumba District Hospital in Gicumbi District, Northern Province, Senior officer in charge of the Viral Hepatitis treatment at Rwanda Biomedical Center, and medical Doctor at different Hospitals such as Rwinkwavu and Masaka hospitals as both Clinical Director and Medical Officer.  Dr. Corneille has  a Master's degree in Public Health specialization in Epidemiology & Disease Control,and a Bachelor's degree in Medicine and Surgery. He has published articles and abstracts presented at both national and international conferences, as author and co-author, relating to HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and global  Ear health , Maternal & Child health and Health Services Management.

Mr. Michel HABINSHUTI

Mr. HABINSHUTI Michel is the Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) Coordinator in the Ministry of Health since December 2020. He has been working in the health sector for 14 years. Before joining the Ministry of health, he was the Director of Planning in Rwanda Biomedical Centre for 8 years, where he was leading all the planning processes, costing, and Budgeting of health sector interventions in Rwanda, he was also leading various costing of Strategic plans since the last 8 years where he costed the Rwanda Health sector strategic plan, medical equipment, and infrastructures Strategic plan in Rwanda and many others. He actively participated in various successful grant applications like global fund (HIV, TB, and Malaria), World Bank, GAVI, Bill and Melinda Gates, CDC CoAg, and others. He led the COVID 19 preparedness and response interventions planning during the pandemic period. HABINSHUTI Michel is a Public Health expert with a master’s degree from the University of Rwanda.