Joseph Mungai
| Joseph Maina Mungai | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 4, 1932 Kenya |
| Died | August 13, 2003 (aged 71) |
| Education | University College of London |
| Occupation | Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Nairobi |
| Children | 4 |
Joseph Maina Mungai (born in Kenya, 4 April 1932; died 13 August 2003) was the first African to become Dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Nairobi. Besides a medical journal editor position from which he resigned in 1974, and a long-term stint as a newspaper correspondent, he was also Head and faculty member of the Department of Anatomy, a writer, and to an extent limited by other career demands, engaged in medical practice. Additionally, from the late 1960s until his retirement, he remained active in the Kenyan civil service.
Having been one of the earliest Africans to engage in scientific research work, activity begun with neurologic research while studying for his doctorate in London, UK, and continued along with production of scientific research papers well into the 1980s, he has also been described as a pioneer medical researcher in East Africa. That his interest in scientific research extended beyond laboratory walls has been exhibited. An example is when he was acknowledged for having suggested to Derek J. Chadwick of CIBA Foundation that the foundation's Symposium on the Molecular Biology and Pathology of Elastic Tissues be held in Nairobi. Mungai, with colleagues J. K. Kimani and A. H. Walji had, about seven years earlier completed a research paper on subject matter which tied in with the symposium's main themes: elastin fibre content in a primate species.
His idea for Nairobi as a venue was backed by Bob Mecham of Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and by Leslie Robert of France. Further co-ordination of the event was provided by Davy Koech and Ms. Shah of KEMRI (Kenya Medical Research Institute); and Mungai's colleague James K. Kimani of the University of Nairobi's Department of Anatomy who was, until his death on 14 September 2006, a researcher in anatomy, neurology, pathology, histology, elastins and bioelasticity of biological tissues and structures (1977–1997); lecturer and professor, as well as Secretary-General of SONA (Society of Neuroscientists in Africa), an organisation associated with PAAN (Pan African Association of Neurological Sciences). The event, CIBA's 192nd symposium, was held 1–3 November 1994, at the Windsor Golf and Country Club in Nairobi.
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