Dr. Benjamin Kumwenda

Associate Professor of Bioinformatics & Computational Biology

Director of Student Affairs, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS)

Project Lead — Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant (SSPG)

Partnership: Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant

📧 bkumwenda@kuhes.ac.mw
📞 +265 888 876 557
🔗 ORCID Profile
𝕏 @benjkum

Biography

Dr. Benjamin Kumwenda is an Associate Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology and currently serves as the Director of Student Affairs at the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Malawi.

He is the Lead Principal Investigator for the Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant (SSPG) at KUHeS, responsible for the development and implementation of university governance systems and policies. Previously, he held senior administrative roles within the former University of Malawi, including Head of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Acting Vice Principal of the College of Medicine.

Dr. Kumwenda also leads the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology research theme within the School of Life Sciences and Allied Health Professions.

Experience & Leadership

• Director of Student Affairs — KUHeS
• Lead Principal Investigator — Scottish Strategic Partnership Grant (SSPG)
• Head, Department of Biomedical Sciences — University of Malawi
• Acting Vice Principal — College of Medicine
• Research Theme Lead — Bioinformatics & Computational Biology

Research & Professional Expertise

• Cancer Genomics
• Comparative Genomics
• Bacterial Pathogenesis
• Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS)
• Protein Modelling
• Transcriptomics

Education

• PhD in Bioinformatics — University of Pretoria (2014)
• MSc in Computer Science — University of the Witwatersrand
• BSc in Computer Science — University of Malawi (Chancellor College)

Affiliations & Achievements

• MRC African Research Excellence Fund (AREF) Postdoctoral Fellow — University of Liverpool
• Postdoctoral Fellow — Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust
• Author/co-author of 20+ peer-reviewed journal publications
• Supervisor of multiple MSc and PhD graduates