Draft:Leon Mutesa

Leon Mutesa is a Rwandan human geneticist, who serves as the Director of the Center for Human Genetics at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, a center he established in 2006.. Leon obtained his MD from University of Rwanda in 2003 and earned his PhD in 2009 from the University of Liege, Belgium, where he also completed his post-doc in 2011. Leon's career has been marked by involvement in clinical services, academia, research, capacity-building, and health sector management.

Leon is a Rwandan pioneering figure in the field of Genetics, he led the development and implementation of Rwanda’s reference center for medical genetics, the only facility of its kind in East Africa. Leon is a board member of International Vaccine Institute and serves as president of the Rwanda Down Syndrome Organization which supports people with Down syndrome in Rwanda. In April 2024, he was awarded the African Prize for Lifetime Contribution in human genetics by HUGO-Human Genome Organization.

Education
Leon attended University of Rwanda, where he graduated with bachelor's degree in Human Biology in 1998. Subsequently, Leon continued his enrolment at the institution to pursue a medical and surgical degree, he graduated with Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery in 2003. Since 2009, Leon holds a PhD degree in Human Genetics from University of Liège, Belgium.

Academic career
After graduating with Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, in 2004, Leon started working at University of Rwanda, College of Medicine and Health Sciences as an assistant lecturer. In 2006, he founded the Centre for Human Genetics at the institution and became its director. In 2010, he became senior lecturer. In 2015, Leon rose to associate Professor of Human Genetics. He has been a visiting professor of Human Genetics at various institutions, including University of Liège in Belgium, Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal, and he was promoted to the Professor title in 2019. He has supervised/mentored over 90 MSc, MMed, PhD, and Post-Doc fellows from Rwanda and overseas universities.

Additional career
Between 2009 and 2011, Leon was a Director of the Department of Clinical Biology at the University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (CHUK), the largest referral hospital in Rwanda. Subsequently, he was appointed by the government of Rwanda as a head of Medical Research Division at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, a Rwanda's national health implementation agency established by Ministry of Health. His work included coordinating health related research activities in all national medical institutions, he served until 2013. Between 2013 and 2021, Leon worked with the Rwanda National Police as consultant for the implementation of the Kigali Forensic Science Laboratory, a laboratory that supports the justice system with evidence based on science and technology for use in courts of laws and other justice bodies in Rwanda.

Pioneering science initiatives
Leon has pioneered new development and implementation of a reference center for medical genetics in Rwanda, which is the only one in the East African Region. In 2009, Leon joined the African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG) and created the Rwandan Society of Human Genetics (RSHG) in 2016 which he serves as its president. In 2018, Leon led the team which organized and hosted the joint 11th Conference of AfSHG, 1st Conference of RSHG and 12th H3Africa Consortium Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda.

In 2014, Leon advocated for health insurance coverage for genetic examination for patients in Rwanda and currently, most health insurances cover the karyotype exam, cytogenetic and molecular tests. In 2016, Leon with Edwige Musabe created the Rwanda Down Syndrome Organization which trains family members and teachers in Rwanda to support the development of children with Down syndrome, in 2021 it was following over 1,000 patients, Leon serves as president of the organization since its founding.

Editorial board
Leon has been serving as Editor-in-Chief for Rwanda Medical Journal and Rwanda Public Health Bulletin, since 2010 and 2019 respectively.

COVID-19 surveillance
As a geneticist, during COVID-19, Leon was among the Rwanda government’s COVID-19 task force where he was coordinating COVID-19 laboratory testing under WHO consultancy. Leon and his research group implemented various research projects aiming at building human capacity for SARS-CoV-2 laboratory diagnostic and management in Rwanda. They discovered a COVID-19 pooling testing strategy which shows a cost-saving approach for better use of SARS-CoV-2 limited testing resources and they published a Nature’s paper on their discovery.

Clinical trials
In 2021, Leon led 2 major clinical trials one on Malaria, a multi-Centre Phase III randomized controlled non-inferiority clinical trial, a study by the Development of Triple Artemisinin Combination Therapies (DeTACT); and another one on COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate, a Phase I/IIa Trials funded by Oxford and International Vaccine Institute, respectively.

Malaria surveillance and research
Between 2014 and 2018, Leon contributed to multiple research projects aiming to Malaria transmission reduction and Malaria elimination in the Eastern Province of Rwanda, a highly affected area in the country.

Genomics
Between July 2004 and July 2006, Leon led a study about neonatal screening for sickle cell disease in Central Africa where 1825 newborn with a new ELISA-test from Burundi, Rwanda and the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo were examined. Since 2007, Leon has conducted various studies on Down Syndrome particularly in Africa.

Awards and honors

 * 2024: African Prize for Lifetime Contribution in human genetics by HUGO-Human Genome Organization.