Biography
Prof. Annettee Nakimuli is a distinguished maternal health researcher and clinician from Uganda. She holds the positions of Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Makerere University, where she also provides clinical services at Mulago Hospital—Uganda’s largest teaching hospital, which handles approximately 30,000 births each year. Her research concentrates on pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, and infections, with the overarching aim of enhancing prediction, management, and preventative measures for these conditions.
Renowned for her groundbreaking genetic research on pre-eclampsia in African women, Prof. Nakimuli identified a protective genetic region within the KIR locus—discoveries that are unique to women of African descent. Her work seeks to unravel the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Trained as a medical doctor at Makerere University and completing her specialist training in 2005, she conducted the first genetic case-control study of pre-eclampsia among indigenous Africans for her PhD and has since expanded her research to other pregnancy-related disorders. Dedicated to capacity building, she is working towards establishing a multidisciplinary maternal and neonatal health research center in Uganda and serves on various national and international committees, including the Uganda Maternal and Newborn Technical Working Group, the MOMI Consortium at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and as Vice President of ECSACOG. Her expertise has gained her global recognition as a leader in maternal health.
