Dr. Geoffrey PeterKins Kumwenda is a Molecular Epidemiologist, Microbiologist, and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Mzuzu University. Before joining Mzuzu University, Dr. Kumwenda worked as a researcher in genomics and phage bioengineering at Jichi Medical University, Japan. He has also worked as a Microbiologist and Molecular Epidemiologist at the Public Health Institute of Malawi and as a Lecturer at Eswatini Christian Medical University and Southern Africa Nazarene University in Eswatini. Dr. Kumwenda, who joined Mzuzu University on 6th May 2024, holds a PhD in Molecular Epidemiology (Distinction, 2021) from the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases at Osaka University School of Medicine in Japan, a Master of Science in Molecular Microbiology & Parasitology (Merit, 2014) from the University of Hull in England, a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Laboratory Medicine (First Class, 2012) from Kamuzu University of Health Sciences in Malawi, and a Diploma in Biomedical Sciences (Distinction, 2008) from Malawi Adventist University. Dr. Kumwenda is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Public Health (Infectious Diseases) with Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA. Dr. Kumwenda is a recipient of various prestigious scholarships and awards, including the UK Commonwealth Scholarship, the Chinese Government Scholarship, the Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship, the Johns Hopkins University Moinfar MPH Scholarship, the Bill & Melinda Gates ASM conference travel grant (Washington DC, USA), the Bill & Melinda Gates ECCMID conference travel grant (Lisbon, Portugal), the African Society for Laboratory Medicine travel award (Pretoria, South Africa), the Helse Nord Tuberculosis Initiative research grant (Wellcome Trust, Malawi), the JICA microbiology internship award (Tokyo, Japan), and the UK internship award (University of Cambridge, UK).