Dr Njeri Nyanja is a family physician, primary health care specialist, medical educator, and researcher who serves as Training and Education Advisor for the NCDI Poverty Network and the Center for Integration Science in Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Nyanja has more than 20 years of experience spanning clinical practice, medical education, health systems strengthening, research, and noncommunicable disease program implementation across Kenya, Tanzania, and Eswatini.

Prior to joining the Network, Dr. Nyanja served as a Primary Health Care Technical Consultant with the World Bank, supporting work across noncommunicable diseases and mental health, reproductive health, maternal, child and adolescent health, and nutrition. She previously served as Clinical Technical Advisor for Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries and Mental Health with Eswatini’s Ministry of Health. In Eswatini, she supported the decentralization of NCD services to 212 primary health care facilities, helped develop the National NCD Strategy 2024–2028 and revised national clinical guidelines covering 80 disease areas, and trained more than 600 health professionals in WHO-PEN and integrated chronic disease management.

Dr. Nyanja brings extensive experience in medical education and clinical mentorship. During her academic career at Aga Khan University and Kabarak University, she served in roles including Senior Lecturer, Interim Programme Director, and Assistant Professor of Family Medicine. She has trained and mentored medical residents, supervised postgraduate research, developed and revised Family Medicine curricula and academic supervisory frameworks, and helped establish new approaches to multidisciplinary clinical training.

Her work combines clinical education with health systems implementation and evidence generation. She has authored or co-authored more than nine peer-reviewed publications and led or contributed to research spanning primary care, community health, chronic disease, and health workforce strengthening. Dr. Nyanja holds an MPhil in Primary Care Research from the University of Cambridge, an MMed in Family Medicine from Aga Khan University, an MBA from Daystar University, and an MBChB from the University of Nairobi.

In her role with the NCDI Poverty Network, she brings this combination of clinical, academic, and health-system experience to strengthening education and training for PEN-Plus, with a focus on developing health worker competencies, strengthening clinical mentorship, and supporting high-quality care for severe chronic noncommunicable diseases in resource-constrained settings.