Wesley Ronoh

Wesley Ronoh is Postdoctoral fellow at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health within the Commercialization pillar.

Wesley holds degrees in Pharmacy (B.Pharm) and Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Nairobi, as well as Medicinal Chemistry (Msc) from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Wesley has also undertaken extensive local and international training on life sciences innovation management, including an internship at the Office of Technology Transfer of the US National Institutes of Health. Wesley was awarded Sanjaya Lall Fellowship at the Oxford Conference on Innovation and Technology Transfer for Global Health in September 2007, in recognition of high achievement as well as demonstrated ability to contribute leadership in Innovation, Technology Transfer and global health. Additionally, in the same year, he was selected to participate in an International Training Programme on innovations systems sponsored by the Swedish government innovation agency, VINNOVA and Swedish International Development Agency, SIDA.

He has has served as the Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer and Marketing Manager at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) since 2001, where he is responsible for overseeing commercialization of the institute’s innovations. He was a member of the KEMRI/Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Infectious Disease Programme team that successfully secured funding of US$10 million from the Japanese government towards establishing a medical diagnostics production facility and regional training centre at KEMRI.

Wesley is a member of the Expert Committee on Drug Registration (CDR) of the Pharmacy and Poisons’ Board, Kenya and member of the Technical Expert Committee on TRIPS and Access to Medicines (TECTAM). He sits on the Board of Management of the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (the national IP office) and is a member of various national policy development committees in Kenya, including the standing committee on South–South cooperation within the Ministry of Planning and Vision 2030. He has previously served as a regulatory affairs consultant to 3M Pharmaceuticals, East Africa subsidiary and has undertaken voluntary Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audits on three local pharmaceutical manufacturers as part of a KEMRI technical evaluation team. He was part of a two person consultant team involved in developing a GTZ sponsored East African Community Regional Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan of Action (EAC-RPMPOA) 2010 -2016 and beyond.

Wesley has authored/co-authored the following reports/working documents:

  1. Singer, P., Daar, A., Ronoh, K.W. and Simiyu, K. ’ Report on Needs Assessment and Due Diligence Study for Selected Life Sciences Commercialization Projects in Rwanda’ presented to the Directorate of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Rwanda, April, 2010.
  2. Ronoh, K. W. and Lore, M. ‘East African Community Regional Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plan of Action 2010 -2016 and Beyond (EAC-RPMPOA)’ presented to the EAC Secretariat on 3rd February, 2010, in Arusha, Tanzania.
  3. Ronoh, K. W. ‘’Introduction to Health Innovation Systems’’ Paper presented at the National Stakeholders Meeting on the Implementation of the WHO - Global Strategy and Plan of Action (GSPoA). 5th May 2010. KEMRI HQ, Nairobi, Kenya.
  4. Ronoh, K. W. ‘’ Introduction to Health Technology Assessment’’ Paper presented at a stakeholder meeting organized by National Council for Science and Technology ( NCST) on 4th March , 2010, at Kenya Institute of Education , Nairobi, Kenya.
  5. Orwa J.A, Ronoh W.K., Karanja R.M. “Bioprospecting in KEMRI: A Synopsis.” Report prepared for the Expert Bioprospecting Brainstorming Meeting. Lake Bogoria, Kenya. September, 2009.
  6. Orwa J.A., Ronoh W.K, Karanja R.M. “Establishing an Effective Biotechnology and Phytopharmaceuticals Innovation System at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.” Report prepared for the Advanced Innovation Systems, SIDA/VINNOVA International Training Programme, Nairobi, Kenya. February, 2009.
  7. Ronoh, K.W. ‘ Research and Development Innovation in East Africa: The case of Kenya Medical Research Institute’ paper presented at the inaugural meeting of the African Network of Diagnostics and Innovation ( ANDI), October, 2008, Abuja, Nigeria.
  8. Orwa J.A., Ronoh W.K, Karanja R.M. “Establishing an Effective Biotechnology and Phytomedicines Innovation System at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.” Report prepared for the Advanced Innovation Systems, SIDA/VINNOVA International Training Programme, Bangkok, Thailand. March, 2008.