Peter Ndimbirwe Mugyenyi, MBChB, DCH, FRCPI, FRCPE, ScD is a Ugandan physician, HIV/AIDS researcher, medical administrator and author. He is executive director and co-founder of the

Joint Clinical Research Centre The Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) is a medical research institution in Uganda, specializing in HIV/AIDS treatment and management. Location The headquarters of JCRC are located on Lubowa Hill, at Plot 101 Entebbe Road, approximately , by ...

, and a leading authority on treatment of

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

in Africa.

Early life and education

Mugyenyi was born in

Rukungiri District Rukungiri District is a district in the Western Region of Uganda. The town of Rukungiri is the site of the district headquarters. Location The district is bordered by Lake Edward to the North West, Rubirizi District to the northeast, Mitooma Dis ...

in the Western Region of Uganda, circa 1949. He attended

Kings College Budo King’s College Budo is a mixed, residential, secondary school in Central Uganda (Buganda). Location The school is located on Naggalabi Hill, in southern Wakiso District, off the Kampala-Masaka Road. This location lies approximately , by road, ...

, a prestigious, mixed, boarding secondary school, before he was admitted to

Makerere University Makerere University, Kampala (; Mak) is Uganda's largest and oldest institution of higher learning, first established as a technical school in 1922. It became an independent national university in 1970. Today, Makerere University is composed of ni ...

to study human medicine. He graduated with the degree of

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

. Following his studies at Makerere, he had to flee the country in the early 1970s, under the pursuit of

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

’s secret police. He migrated to the United Kingdom, where he obtained the Diploma in Child Health, the title of Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland and that of Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. In 2003, he was awarded the degree of

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

, by

Mbarara University Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST), commonly known as Mbarara University, is a public university in Uganda. Mbarara University commenced student intake and instruction in 1989. It is one of the ten public universities and degree ...

in Uganda.

Career in the United Kingdom

While in the United Kingdom, he became a successful consultant

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

. But in the early 1990s, he voluntarily returned to his native Uganda to help his country battle the AIDS epidemic, which was still expanding at that time. The working conditions were dire and the salary, a mere fraction of his income in the UK. He had to undergo fresh training in HIV epidemiology.

Leadership in the battle for treatment of HIV/AIDS in Africa

He was one of the first prominent figures in the global medical community to argue that

Africans African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

could, and would, successfully follow

antiretroviral treatment The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multiple ...

regimens. At that time few people believed that would happen. History has proven him correct. In 1992, Mugyenyi co-founded and became the

Medical Director A medical director is a physician who provides guidance and leadership on the use of medicine in a healthcare organization. These include the emergency medical services, hospital departments, blood banks, clinical teaching services and others. A m ...

of the Joint Clinical Research Centre, Africa's largest AIDS treatment and research center. He is recognized as one of the leading HIV/AIDS researchers in the world. In 2002, he ordered a shipment of low-cost generic ARVs from India, in direct defiance of Uganda's patent laws, challenging the authorities to arrest him and refusing to leave the airport until the drugs were allowed into the country and guarantees were given that future shipments would also be cleared. This action led virtually overnight to a tenfold increase in the number of people on ARVs in Uganda, and effectively ended the blockade of low-cost generic AIDS drugs into Africa. Today almost all Africans on ARVs take generics, the great majority of which still come from India. Mugyenyi also played a major consultative role in the formulation of the

PEPFAR The United States President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease. Launched by U.S. President Geor ...

(‘President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief’) program, which was announced at the 2003

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

address by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. Mugyenyi was seated beside

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

when the announcement was made, and President Bush made reference to him in the speech. PEPFAR has since put millions of Africans on lifesaving antiretroviral treatment, and is widely viewed as by far the single most positive legacy of George W. Bush's two terms in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. In September 2003, Mugyenyi was honored by the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care and presented with the Hero in Medicine Award. In February 2014, he was appointed as an independent Director, to the Board of

Cipla Cipla Limited (stylized as Cipla) is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Mumbai. Cipla primarily develops medicines to treat respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, depression and many oth ...

, the Indian pharmaceutical company with an ARV manufacturing factory in

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. He served as the Chancellor of

Mbarara University of Science and Technology Mbarara University of Science & Technology (MUST), commonly known as Mbarara University, is a public university in Uganda. Mbarara University commenced student intake and instruction in 1989. It is one of the ten public universities and degree ...

, one of Uganda's eight public universities from 22 August 2008 to 28 October 2017.

Authorship

Mugyenyi's landmark 2008 book ''Genocide by Denial: How Profiteering from HIV/AIDS Killed Millions'' details how Western governments and drug companies callously oversaw the deaths of millions of Africans who would never have been able to afford their branded drugs. A follow-up to the earlier book, ''A Cure Too Far: The Struggle to End HIV/AIDS'', was published in early 2013. Mugyenyi's role in the battle for mass antiretroviral treatment in Africa is portrayed in the 2013 film Fire in the Blood, and he was invited by the producers to be the guest of honor when the film debuted at the 2013

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

, Utah, USA. His appearance generated several standing ovations at Sundance.

References

External links