Dr Roma Chilengi

Dr Chilengi is a Zambian physician, epidemiologist and vaccinologist currently employed as Chief Scientific Officer at the Centre for Infectious Disease Research (CIDRZ) in Zambia. In his current role, he oversees all research programmes, leads several research studies as well as health systems strengthening programmes. Having primarily worked on vaccine preventable infectious disease research for the past 18 years, his interests have shifted to also include non-communicable diseases in the last few years. He is conducting ongoing research in enteric disease and working on several vaccine studies including rotavirus, ETEC, Shigella, as well as HIV. He was awarded an R01 IRIDA grant 1R01AI099605, which evaluated potential causes of rotavirus vaccine failure in Zambian infants, and presently holds a Senior Fellowship Award from the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) studying rotavirus vaccine immunogenicity. Presently he is also leading efforts towards establishing Human Infection Challenge studies in Zambia.