The Department of Medical Microbiology, located in the Faculty of Health Sciences is a leader in research on infectious diseases and the mother of two institutes; Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative - Institute of Clinical Research (KAVI-ICR) and University of Nairobi Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (UNITID). The department serves the School of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Dental Sciences. Besides teaching undergraduate students of these schools, the department teaches medical microbiology to postgraduate students from departments of Pathology, Surgery and UNITID. The department’s Master of Science degree programme in Medical Microbiology covers medical parasitology, bacteriology, mycology, medical virology, entomology, molecular biology, immunology, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Student dissertations for the Master’s degree can be based on any of these broad areas of medical microbiology. The department also offers PhD programmes by research and thesis in these areas. In addition to training quality healthcare professionals in carrying out creative and innovative research, the department also provides reliable diagnostic services to patients from Kenyatta National Hospital and other health institutions. The Department has played and continues to play a crucial role in infectious disease research and in particular HIV/AIDS and in this regard does collaborative research with the Universities of Washington, Manitoba, Toronto and Helsinki
