Nicaise Ndembi Nicaise Ndembi, Ph.D., is the Deputy Director General and Regional Director of the IVI Africa Regional Office, based in Kigali, Rwanda.
He is also an Associate Professor at the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine as well as a Research Professor at the Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Department of Viral Infection and International Public Health, where he completed his doctorate in Virology.
Prior to joining IVI in 2025, Professor Ndembi was the Principal Advisor to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC)’s Director General, where he established the Partnerships for Africa Vaccine Manufacturing, creating a framework for regional vaccine manufacturing and self-reliance. He additionally held the position of Deputy Incident Manager mpox – Marburg Continental Prevention Preparedness and Response Plan for Africa.
Africa stands at a pivotal moment in its journey toward health security and self-reliance. Scientific capacity is expanding and biomanufacturing is scaling up—yet global health financing is declining, putting hard-won progress at risk and exposing fragile systems. This moment calls for African-led solutions more than ever.
Professor Ndembi is currently leading the ACHIEVE Africa initiative, an African-led, member-state-championed continental response to this moment—a US$100+ million initiative designed to close Africa’s research and development gap, and strengthen the continent’s engine for vaccines and biologics, from discovery through clinical trials and regulatory readiness for a sustainable vaccine manufacturing ecosystem in Africa.
Professor Ndembi has authored and co-authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers and chapters in professional journals. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of African Journal for AIDS and Infectious Diseases a journal of Society for AIDS in Africa. He has been named to the 2025 TIME100 Health list – recognizing the 100 most influential people in global health and also 100 Most Notable Peace Icons in Africa, 2025 list.