Dr. Jia Bainga Kangbai, BSc, MPH, PhD

Dr. Jia Bainga Kangbai is a William J. Fulbright Fellow and Germany DAAD Fellow, holding a PhD in Medical Research – International Health from the University of Munich, Germany, and an MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of Kentucky, USA. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and also teaches public health courses at Njala University in Sierra Leone.

With over 15 years of professional experience as a social scientist and researcher, Dr. Kangbai is skilled in both quantitative and qualitative methods. His work focuses on social determinants of treatment-seeking behavior in communities and the drivers of health inequities. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and has served as Principal Investigator on numerous studies.

Dr. Kangbai has conducted consultancies for international agencies such as WHO, UNICEF, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the West Africa Civil Society Initiative, and the CDC-funded SpillOver project. He has also managed several international grants, including a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grant (US$1.2M, 2021–2026) for infectious disease treatment outcome studies in Sierra Leone.

In 2019, Dr. Kangbai was appointed National Surveillance Officer for Sierra Leone’s Presidential COVID-19 Task Force. He is a member of several national and international scientific organizations, including the International Society of Infectious Diseases (ISID), the Health Equity Group, the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), and the Sierra Leone Biomedical Health Research Group.