Mike Chirenje - Chair

University of Zimbabwe

Mike Chirenje is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology College of Health Science, University of Zimbabwe, Harare. His main research interest is cervical cancer screening and treatment of pre-cancer lesions in low resource settings. He is a member of WHO HPV Vaccine Expert Advisory Committee, and board member of African Organisation on Research and Training in Cancer. He is a founding member and Executive Director of a large Harare based collaborative Research Programme University of Zimbabwe – University of California San Francisco.

Dr Chirenje was Principal Investigator for a large protocol that screened 11 000 women in Harare which became internationally a milestone study to demonstrate effectiveness of VIA in screening cervical cancer in low resource countries. Dr. Chirenje is currently Principle Investigator for a WHO operative research protocol assessing implementation of Cervical Cancer Screening by visual inspection with acetic acid and cyrotheray treatment in six African countries (Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda)

Dr. Chirenje has also evaluated HPV screening and he is currently following a cohort to establish HPV types among Zimbabwean women with invasive cervical cancer. He is also Principal Investigator for a large NIH funded HIV Clinical Trails unit (UZ-UCSF) that is evaluating several HIV prevention methods including vaginal microbicides in HIV uninfected women.