Dr. Wilber Sabiiti is a biomedical scientist with interest in understanding how pathogens interact with the human host and using this knowledge to develop new diagnostics and medicines. He is interested in understanding how pathogens evade the host defence and develop resistance to drugs. His long-standing work with Africa has led him to appreciate that new tests and medicines alone are not enough without translation into policy and practice. In this vein, Wilber is leading implementation research to take new diagnostic and treatment tools from bench to clinical practice. Innovation is not complete until it is accessible and usable by the target users.

Our recently completed TWENDE study in East Africa explored ways to unlock barriers and accelerate uptake of health research innovations into policy and practice. Many lessons were learned that will be useful to policymakers and technology developers.