Michael Iroezindu

Dr. Iroezindu has broad background in Infectious Diseases, Tropical Medicine, Clinical Research, and Global Health that spans over 15 years. He is currently the Director of Research at the Walter Reed Program-Nigeria (WRP-N) in support of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Branch (EIDB) and U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He has strong expertise in clinical trial implementation and observational studies for infectious diseases of public health importance, including but not limited to Ebola, Lassa fever, Dengue, HIV, COVID-19 and monkeypox. He leads the Clinical Research Center of WRP-N based in Abuja, which has completed two multi-country phase 2 Ebola vaccine trials. Dr. Iroezindu is the Nigeria Principal Investigator (PI) of the CEPI-funded IAVI’s C105 phase 2a Lassa vaccine trial and the follow on EDCTP/CEPI-funded Lassa Fever Vaccine Efficacy and Prevention for West Africa (LEAP4WA) phase 2b/3 trial scheduled to enroll about 4,950 subjects in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. He is also the PI of a community-based study investigating the “seroprevalence and risk factors of Lassa virus infection in Nigeria.” Dr. Iroezindu is the protocol co-chair of the Joint West African Research Group’s study on “Severe Infectious Disease: Surveillance, Detection, Risks, and Consequences in West Africa.” He has also led multiple HIV research protocols. He is currently the PI (Nigeria sites) of the PEPFAR-funded African Cohort Study (AFRICOS), which has enrolled over 4,000 people living with and without HIV across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Dr. Iroezindu has supported the national COVID-19 response and research activities under the Nigerian Ministry of Defence-US Department of Defence Public Health Emergency Operations Centre. Under his leadership, the CRC was selected among Africa CDC Consortium on COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial (CONCVACT) tier-one sites. Following the resurgence of monkeypox in 2017 in Nigeria, he led the outbreak response and clinical management of monkeypox in Imo State, South-East Nigeria. He currently leads the U.S Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)-funded Monkeypox Public Outreach and Sample Collection Training Project, which has built the capacity of over 200 human and veterinary healthcare workers in Nigeria and Guinea. Dr. Iroezindu has published over 90 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters. He has received several awards and honors, including the U.S. Embassy Abuja award for immense leadership contribution to the combat of public health and global emerging infectious diseases in West Africa. He is a Fellow of the Infectious Disease Society of America (FIDSA), a Fellow of the American Thoracic Society (ATSF), and a member of other professional bodies, including the International Society for Infectious Diseases, European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.