Sam Kariuki (DVM, MSc, PhD) obtained his DVM from the University of Nairobi (1989), MSc in Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Nairobi (1991), and a PhD in Tropical Medicine from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in 1997. He was awarded Doctor of Science (Honoris causa) by the LSTM in December 2022. Currently he is Director, Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) East Africa. Previously, he was Acting Director General at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) (2021-2023) and Director of Research and Development (2018-2022). He is Fellow, African Academy of Sciences and a Honorary Faculty Wellcome Sanger Institute, visiting Professor of Tropical Microbiology, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, and the Ohio State University One-Health Initiative. He is also a member of the American Society for Microbiology and Section Editor, Journal of Medical Microbiology. 

Over the last 20 years his team has researched and published on epidemiology and genomics of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and genomic surveillance of key enteric pathogens endemic in Kenya and the region. He has published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and written 4 chapters in textbooks of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, majoring in Genomics and Epidemiology. He is a member of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Interagency Committee (NASIC) advising Ministry of Health on One Health approach in implementation of the National Action Plan to combat AMR, and a member of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Group for Antimicrobial Resistance (STAG-AMR).