Dr. Alaine Umubyeyi Nyaruhirira has more than 20 years of experience in laboratories, diagnostics, pharmaceutical and health systems strengthening, monitoring and evaluation, health insurance, and advocacy for public-private partnerships. As a principal technical advisor for laboratory service, she is responsible for leading efforts that have increased laboratory services and health systems and is MSH’s in-house expert in TB, HIV, malaria, COVID-19, and other related laboratory services.

She has supported Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Sudan, South Africa, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and other countries to train and advise TB, HIV, malaria, AMR, and GHSA projects. She is also part of MSH’ efforts to address interventions for laboratories and health facilities to respond effectively and efficiently to the global COVID-19 crisis.

She represents MSH as a laboratory expert at several global working groups, including the Global Laboratory Initiative, Global Drug Initiative/STOP TB, GLC WHO-AFRO, the Bacteriology and Immunology section of the UNION (UIATLD), and the Integrated Diagnostics Consortium. In October 2021, she was appointed as a member at the WHO advisory group on tuberculosis diagnostics and laboratory strengthening, and January 2022 she was appointed to the WHO advisory group on the bacterial priority pathogen list for a three-year term. Prior to joining MSH, she worked as a researcher and trainer on MDR-TB and molecular epidemiology at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium, and at the Columbia University Project in Rwanda. She holds a doctorate in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences and a master’s degree in public health from the Free University at Brussels, Belgium.