Prof. Jesse Uneke
Vice Chancellor
Professor C. Jesse Uneke is a Professor of Medical Parasitology & Health Policy/Health Systems. His major areas of expertise include infectious diseases, health policy/health systems, public health, epidemiology, knowledge translation, and health research ethics. He obtained his PhD in Medical Parasitology from University of Jos Nigeria, where he commenced his academic career in the AIDS/Leishmaniasis Research Laboratory as a Research Fellow.
In 2003, he was appointed a Lecturer in the Department of Medical Microbiology/Parasitology of Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, Nigeria, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 2015. In 2008, he was a recipient of WHO funded project on health policy and health systems research, which led him to establish the African Institute for Health Policy and Health Systems (AIHPHS), Nigeria in 2015. The AIHPHS is a World Health Organization supported and collaboration Centre, where Professor Uneke serves as the Director and leads the research and training in health policy & systems research (HPSR), knowledge translation/brokering/management, and supporting decision-making institutions and government ministries/agencies in Nigeria in evidence-informed policymaking.
Between 2008 and 2024, Prof Uneke has received up to 24 different research grants from international funding organizations and served as national/regional consultant and Principal Researcher/Investigator of projects funded by WHO, IDRC, USAID, Hewlett Foundation and WAHO across Africa. Prof Uneke is the Director of Evidence to Policy Network (EVIPNet) Nigeria; Director of Policy Information Platform Nigeria, supported by Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research WHO; and President of Society for Health Policy Research & Knowledge Translation Nigeria.
Prof Uneke is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Health Research Policy & Systems, a BMC Journal and foremost international Journal of Health Policy & Systems Research, he has more than 130 peer reviewed scientific publications in reputable high-ranking international journals (with more than 112 of his publications indexed in PubMed), and several other publications in Nigerian scientific journals. He has supervised over 50 postgraduate students leading to MSc and PhD. Prof. Uneke’s Scopus publication h-index as of February 2025 was 33points, and Scopus citation of 25,442. He has travelled to over 30 countries within and outside Africa. Until his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of David Umahi Federal University of Health Sciences, Prof Uneke was a Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) of Ebonyi State University Abakaliki, Nigeria. He hails from Ohaozara LGA of Ebonyi State, and happily married with children.