Ruth Nanjala is the inaugural AfOx Kennedy Trust Prize Studentship Scholar, studying for a DPhil in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. Ruth graduated with a distinction for the M.Sc. in Bioinformatics at Pwani University, Kenya and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She holds a first-class B.Sc. degree in Microbiology from Pwani University, Kenya.

Ruth is a computational scientist working on the genetics of the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) region and its relationship to complex immune-mediated diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis. She hopes to work towards addressing the gap in disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment and thus address health challenges in Africa and beyond.

Ruth is also passionate about capacity building and has been involved with different projects aimed at building Bioinformatics capacity in Africa. These include the Pan African Bioinformatics network (H3ABioNet) and the Bioinformatics mentorship and incubation program at the International Centre for insect physiology and ecology (ICIPE).