Vivi Maketa

Introduction:

Vivi Maketa is a leading voice in public health research in the Democratic Republic of Congo and serves as a Principal Investigator for the ODIN project. With deep expertise in disease surveillance, clinical trials, and One Health approaches, Maketa is spearheading efforts to integrate wastewater-based genomic surveillance into national health strategies.

Full Name:

Vivi Maketa Tevuzula

Institutional Affiliation and Professional Experience:

Prof. Maketa is a professor of Tropical Medicine at the University of Kinshasa and the Principal Investigator at the Institut Multisectoriel pour l’Amélioration du Bien-être (IMABE). She has over 15 years of experience leading research on malaria, Mpox, typhoid, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Her portfolio includes coordination of multi-country clinical trials, implementation of genomic and environmental surveillance platforms, and high-level engagement with national and international stakeholders including WHO, EDCTP, and the Gates Foundation.

Educational Background:

Prof. Maketa is a Medical Doctor from the University of Kinshasa in the DRC. She holds a Master’s degree in One Health from the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania and a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Antwerp in Belgium. In addition, she has completed various specialized training programs in epidemiology, good clinical practices, research ethics, and related areas, further strengthening her expertise in clinical research and public health.

Role in the ODIN Project:

She leads the DRC component of the ODIN project, focusing on wastewater-based surveillance for emerging pathogens and AMR. She ensures alignment of surveillance activities with national public health priorities and regulatory frameworks.

Work Package (WP) and Responsibilities:

Prof. Maketa is contributing to WP2 (Implementation of Surveillance) and WP5 (Integration of Genomic Data into Public Health Systems). Her responsibilities include site coordination, stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and ensuring ethical and regulatory compliance across surveillance activities.

Contribution of this Work Package to ODIN’s Overall Goals:

Her work supports ODIN’s goal to build resilient, scalable genomic surveillance systems by piloting wastewater monitoring and pathogen sequencing in low-resource settings. The outputs directly inform preparedness strategies and strengthen evidence-based decision-making at national and regional levels.

Professional and Personal Interests:

Prof. Maketa is passionate about equitable access to healthcare, gender-responsive research, and One Health integration. She is also actively involved in mentoring young scientists across Africa and promoting ethics in research involving vulnerable populations.

Hobbies and Leisure Activities:

She is actively involved in community engagement, particularly advocating for the social and economic independence of women and youth through education and sensitization. She is also a foodie who enjoys discovering and trying new dishes while traveling.

Future Research Aspirations:

Prof. Maketa aims to expand her work on climate-sensitive disease surveillance and develop AI-supported health risk prediction tools. She dreams to develop a AI-HealthScape initiative to map genomic risk in changing environmental contexts across sub-Saharan Africa.

Contact Details:

Email: vivi.maketa@unikin.ac.cd
ORCID: 0000-0002-9007-1376
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivi-maketa-0a472596/
ResearchGate: researchgate.net/profile/Vivi-Maketa