Prof Lukoye Atwoli M.B.S. is a Professor of Psychiatry and the Dean of the Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa. He is also the Deputy Director of the Brain and Mind Institute at AKU. He also practices psychiatry at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi. Prof Atwoli is an Honorary Professor in the department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and collaborates with colleagues all over the world in research and teaching in psychiatry and mental health.

Prof Atwoli trained in medicine (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, MBChB) at Moi University before undertaking specialist training in psychiatry (Master of Medicine in Psychiatry, MMed Psych) at the University of Nairobi, where his MMed dissertation explored posttraumatic stress disorder among Mau Mau Concentration Camp survivors in Nairobi. He later earned a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, focusing on the epidemiology of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder in South Africa. Prof Atwoli is widely published, and his current research interests are centered on trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder and the genetics of mental disorders, although he also leads and participates in research on children’s and youth mental health, and on HIV and Mental Health.

He is a member of the World Mental Health Surveys Consortium that carries out cross-national psychiatric epidemiological research that informs practice and policy globally. Prof Atwoli is the Vice-President of the World Psychiatric Association Section on Epidemiology and Public Health, the Chairperson of the Board of the Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital, the only specialized mental health care facility in Kenya, and co-chairs the Board on Global Health of the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. He sits on several advisory boards nationally and internationally and has served as the President of the African College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AfCNP), the Secretary-General of the African Association of Psychiatrists (AAP), and Chair of the Steering Committee of the Association of Academic Health Centers International (AAHCI).

Prof Atwoli is a social and health rights advocate and has influenced policy and programmes in the health sector as well as in the political sphere. He has been a strong mental health campaigner and advocate who constantly speaks out for the rights of the disadvantaged in society. As a result of his work in mental health and psychiatry, Prof Atwoli is an International Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (IFAPA) and has also been awarded one of the highest national honours in Kenya, the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.). in October 2023, Prof Atwoli was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine (NAM) as an International Member. He is also a member of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences. Email: lukoye.atwoli@aku.edu