Director of STIAS
Edward joined STIAS in July 2019 and is currently serving his second term as its director.
He is a professor of Medical Sociology and Professor Extraordinary at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Stellenbosch University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with Harvard University.
He is a fellow of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.
Before joining STIAS, Edward was a full Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Makerere University in Uganda, where he also served as Head of the Department of Sociology & Social Anthropology, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
He was the national Chair of the Central Coordination Mechanism for the Global Fund for HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and TB. His research work focuses on HIV/AIDS, population and reproductive health, emergent diseases, and global health. As World Health Organisation Temporary Technical Advisor, he was involved with the early period of the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) and, for many years, with Uganda’s HIV/AIDS research and health systems policy and programme.
Edward has extensive in-country experience in sexual and reproductive health, as well as research on emergent diseases, programme development, and evaluation in 20 African countries, as well as in Mexico, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
He has been involved in institutional capacity development and restructuring of academic and public institutions, including at the Centre for African Studies and the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen, and the African Studies Centre at Leiden University. He provided technical advice for several international organisations and agencies, including WHO, GPA/UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNDP, Sida-Sweden, Norad, Danida, Population Council, the US National Academies of Sciences and JICA.