The Exact Dx team is a research team led by collaborators from Moi University and Duke University. Exact Dx stands for “Expanding Access to Correct Treatment through Diagnosis”. Our name reflects our early commitment to improving rational drug use through expanding access to high-quality malaria diagnosis and encouraging adherence to test results. Our work is still focused on malaria, but in addition to diagnosis, we also work on prevention, interventions in high-risk groups (like those with sickle-cell anemia), and transmission dynamics.
We are based primarily in Eldoret, Kenya at Moi University but some of our team and collaborators are at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Diana Menya is an Associate Professor at Moi University School of Public Health. She specializes in community-based approaches to important health problems. In addition to malaria, she has expertise in the epidemiology of esophageal cancer in rural Kenya.
Dr. Jeremiah Laktabai is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Family Medicine at Moi University and the Director of Clinical Services at AMPATH. His main areas of research interest are malaria diagnosis and treatment, infections in pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections.
Dr. Andrew Obala is a Senior Lecturer at Moi University in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology. He is a passionate parasitologist with expertise in medical entomology and malaria and overseas our studies in Webuye and Turkana.
Dr. Judith Mangeni is a senior lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Medical Statistics within the School of Public Health at Moi University. Her research interests are malaria epidemiology, malaria infection during pregnancy, malaria behavior change communication strategies, and routine testing for HIV in clinical settings.
Joseph Kipkoech is our Program Manager and oversees all of our different project operations. He has an interest in innovative education and training approaches for laypersons involved in health interventions.
Lucy Abel is our Deputy coordinator and entomologist. She oversees our Field Researchers, coordinates community-based surveys, provides support to CHWs engaged in our diagnostic intervention, and trains field teams and students on mosquito collection and identification.
Emmah Kimachas is our Data Manager who overseas data collected from many sources, both human and mosquito, for all of our various studies. She trains field teams and ensures the quality and integrity of our data pipelines
Tabitha Chepkwony is a Laboratory Scientist and lead coordinator for our Clinical Microscopy training programme
Julius Maiyo is our transportation manager and driver. He ensures our teams and supplies get to where they need to go when they need to be there.
George Ambani is a Research and Data Assistant who works on digitizing our records and interacting with our CHWs.
Edna Sang is our Duke Global Inc. Coordinator. She is our liaison with the local IRB and also assists with several of our programs.
Webuye Team
Our field team is based in Webuye, Kenya about 70 kilometers to the west of Eldoret. Our Field Researchers are the heart and soul of our work. They have many years of experience in community surveys, community engagement, entomological surveillance and collections, supervising Community Health Workers, and malaria diagnostic testing with rapid tests. Webuye is also home to our laboratory, PEARL, which is located on Webuye County Hospital’s campus. This is also where our newly furbished insectary is located.
Linda is a laboratory scientist and our senior clinical microscopist at PEARL. She enjoys mentoring and helping facilitate trainings.
Evans Omollo is our field entomology coordinator. He manages our new insectary which houses mosquitoes reared from our cohort study.
Jane Nyongesa is the Assistant Field Supervisor and helps with field coordination, implementation of our interventions, and data quality.
The Exact Dx team is a research team led by collaborators from Moi University and Duke University. Exact Dx stands for “Expanding Access to Correct Treatment through Diagnosis”. Our name reflects our early commitment to improving rational drug use through expanding access to high-quality malaria diagnosis and encouraging adherence to test results. Our work is still focused on malaria, but in addition to diagnosis, we also work on prevention, interventions in high-risk groups (like those with sickle-cell anemia), and transmission dynamics.
