Our History
The Faculty of Health Sciences is located in Mbale City, Eastern Uganda within Mbale Regional Referral Hospital which is its main Teaching hospital. The Faculty was opened in 2013 with 46 pioneer students of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery as its first programme. Over the years the faculty has grown and expanded and is currently offering three undergraduate and three post-graduate programs. The faculty was purposely established not only to contribute to the growth of the health professional human resource capacity of Uganda but also to produce graduates with the right attitude, skills, and knowledge to serve both in urban and rural areas of Uganda. The latter was key because it had been observed that many doctors from sister universities such as Makerere, Mbarara, and Gulu Universities usually preferred to work in urban settings to rural areas. This denied access to quality health services to many Ugandan citizens where the largest population live. To achieve its mission, the faculty designed curricula that foster the integration of knowledge, early clinical exposure, community-based education, and research activities. The courses in the curriculum are offered in a modular format and delivered using the problem-based learning (PBL) approach. This has enabled a learner-centered learning environment and our graduates are motivated to learn from their fellow peers and tutors and become life-long learners.
The Faculty currently has 60 permanent teaching Staff in 15 functional departments that are highly qualified and motivated to teach, conduct research, and community outreach. To facilitate the learning process, the faculty collaborates with consultants of Mbale Regional Referral Hospital to train students, especially during clinical years. We have lecture theatres, laboratories for biomedical sciences, and a state-of-the-art library. Our staff and students have access to reliable internet at campus and can access e-books and other online materials that the faculty subscribes to. The faculty collaborates with other medical training and research institutes where our students are placed for specialized skills training but also for staff exchange. These include 19 COBERS sites, Mbale Clinical Research Institute, MBN laboratories, Uganda Cancer Institute, Uganda Virus Research Institute, Peoples Friendship University of Russia, and Queen Mary University of London among others. Annually the faculty receives at least two educators from the USA under the seed global health initiative.
Our faculty members are heavily involved in research that is directed toward solving local and international problems. Our research output is currently over 75 publications annually in peer-reviewed journals. Highly ranked researchers on the faculty include Prof. Paul Waako, Prof. Peter Olupot-Olupot, Prof. Julius Wandabwa, Dr. Yahaya Gavamukulya, Dr. Joseph Matovu, Dr Mukunya among others. The faculty has over the years received funding to support research from the Government of Uganda but also other agencies such as SIDA, NORHERD, VLIR, SEED GLOBAL HEALTH, NIH, WELCOME TRUST, and PRESIDE /STI-OP. The faculty has continued to occupy a critical niche in the socioeconomic transformation of its community through outreaches and sensitization campaigns. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty manufactured and distributed over 3000L of sanitizers to health facilities in Eastern Uganda. In 2015, the faculty Launched the first Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) conference in Uganda which has now become an annual event. In collaboration with MCRI, the faculty has played a leading role in the malaria and infectious disease control and research. The Natural Products Research and Innovation has developed Tazcov which has been notified by the National Drug Authority and is undergoing Clinical trials at Makerere Lung Institute.