Leon Mutesa

Leon Mutesa is a Rwandan Professor of human genetics who serves as the Director of the Center for Human Genetics at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, a center he established in 2006. Mutesa obtained his MD from the University of Rwanda in 2003 and earned his PhD in 2009 from the University of Liege, Belgium, where he also completed his postdoc in 2011. Mutesa's career has been marked by involvement in clinical services, academia, research, capacity-building, and health sector management.

Mutesa is a Rwandan pioneering figure in the field of genetics; he led the development and implementation of Rwanda’s reference center for medical genetics, the only facility of its kind in East Africa. Mutesa is a board member of the International Vaccine Institute and serves as president of the Rwanda Down Syndrome Organization, which supports people with Down syndrome in Rwanda. In April 2024, he was awarded the African Prize for Lifetime Contribution in Human Genetics by the HUGO-Human Genome Organisation. Provided by Wikipedia