Moffat Nyirenda

Moffat Nyirenda
Born	Karonga
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh University of Malawi University College London
Scientific career
Institutions	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine University of Edinburgh
Thesis	Glucocorticoids and the programming of hepatic glucose metabolism  (1999)

Moffat Nyirenda is a Malawian physician who is Professor of Molecular Medicine and Director of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute. He has served at the Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence. His research looks to understand the aetiology of non-communicable disease in Africa. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2025.

Early life and education

Nyirenda is from Karonga, a rural area in Malawi. ^[1] He studied at Kamuzu Academy, sometimes described as the “Eton of Africa”. ^[1] He was in the first cohort of students to graduate from the College of Medicine in Malawi, and completed his training between the University of Malawi and University College London.^{[ citation needed ]} During his degree he took part in an intercalated Bachelor's in immunology.^{[ citation needed ]} He completed a doctorate in molecular medicine at the University of Edinburgh, He was awarded an MRC Clinician Scientists Fellowship Award.^{[ citation needed ]} In Edinburgh, Nyirenda studied developmental programming. He showed that prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids could predispose babies to diabetes later in life. ^[1]

Research and career

In 2010, Nyirenda returned to Malawi, where he was made Associate Director of the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Research Programme. ^[2] He joined the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit. By 2013, he was appointed London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Professor of Medicine. ^[1]

Nyirenda looks to understand aetiology of non-communicable diseases, including the relationship between early life and environmental exposures and obesity and hypertension. He has contributed to genomic studies of non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa, ^[2] for example, in South Africa, young and lean people with Type 2 diabetes, which does not fit the Western stereotype. ^[3]

Nyirenda has worked to build research capacity in Africa, and serves as Director of the Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence (SACORE) and Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit (MEIRU). ^[4] SACORE connects researchers across Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. ^[5] MEIRU, which had originally been established to investigate leprosy, expanded to tuberculosis and HIV. Through MEIRU Nyirenda investigated the epidemiological changes that are impacting metabolic diseases in Africa. Better management of HIV means that people live longer, which means they can “succumb to non-communicable diseases at a much younger age,”. ^[3]

In 2024, Nyirenda was appointed Director of the Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Uganda Research Unit. ^{[6] [7]} In 2025, he was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. ^[8]

Selected publications

• M J Nyirenda; Robert S Lindsay; C J Kenyon; A Burchell; J R Seckl (1 May 1998). "Glucocorticoid exposure in late gestation permanently programs rat hepatic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucocorticoid receptor expression and causes glucose intolerance in adult offspring". Journal of Clinical Investigation . 101 (10): 2174–2181. doi:10.1172/JCI1567. ISSN   0021-9738. PMC   508805 . PMID   9593773. Wikidata   Q37382023.
• Rifat Atun; Shabbar Jaffar; Sania Nishtar; Felicia M Knaul; Mauricio Lima Barreto; Moffat Nyirenda; Nicholas Banatvala; Peter Piot (12 February 2013). "Improving responsiveness of health systems to non-communicable diseases". The Lancet . 381 (9867): 690–697. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60063-X. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   23410609. Wikidata   Q45416594.
• J. A. McCormick; V. Lyons; M. D. Jacobson; et al. (1 April 2000). "5'-heterogeneity of glucocorticoid receptor messenger RNA is tissue specific: differential regulation of variant transcripts by early-life events". Molecular Endocrinology . 14 (4): 506–517. doi:10.1210/MEND.14.4.0438. ISSN   0888-8809. PMID   10770488. Wikidata   Q47868032.

References

1. Watts, Geoff (2015-10-17). "Moffat Nyirenda: investigating diabetes and other NCDs in Malawi". The Lancet. 386 (10003): 1527. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00479-1. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   26530611.
2. "Professor Moffat Nyirenda". RSTMH. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
3. McCall, Becky (2015-10-17). "Profile: Southern Africa Consortium for Research Excellence" . The Lancet. 386 (10003): 1524. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00526-7. ISSN   0140-6736. PMID   26530608.
4. "Moffat Nyirenda". KidneyGenAfrica. Retrieved 2025-06-16.
5. Wilson L Mandala; Frances M. Cowan; David Lalloo; et al. (13 November 2014). "Southern Africa consortium for research excellence (SACORE): successes and challenges". The Lancet Global Health. 2 (12): e691-2. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70321-3. ISSN   2214-109X. PMC   4894455 . PMID   25433623. Wikidata   Q39209829.
6. "New Director announced for MRC Unit in Uganda". LSHTM. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
7. "Professor Moffat Nyirenda". MRC Epidemiology Unit. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
8. "Academy of Medical Sciences announces new Fellows for 2025". Academy of Medical Sciences . Retrieved 2025-06-16.