Yolisa Nalule, Ecosystems Lead, Africa
Yolisa leads the Equitable Research Ecosystems team for Africa. She manages our portfolio of major investments and partnerships in Africa, ensuring equity is a part of all we do.
Connect with Yolisa on LinkedIn
Yolisa’s work includes overseeing Wellcome’s Major International Programmes in Africa from a strategic, assurance and engagement perspective. Her team ensures that the programmes are operationally fit and that Wellcome’s vision for better health for all is a part of their work.
Yolisa also leads the development and delivery of opportunities beyond or adjacent to current investments that align with Wellcome’s mission and equity goals. This involves working with key research institutions, funders, governments and policymakers to drive systemic change and strengthen equitable research ecosystems in Africa.
Her academic background is in molecular biology and public health with a focus on infectious diseases that have a significant burden in the Global South. She has over 15 years of experience working across both research and international development sectors, focusing on the control of infectious disease, primary health care service delivery, maternal and child health, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), behaviour change and comprehensive community health programmes across Africa and South-East Asia.
Coming from Uganda, her work doubles as an act of service in honour of the daily lives that communities such as hers continue to lose to preventable disease. She stands for health as a human right, equitable partnerships and the decolonising of global health. In her personal life, Yolisa enjoys reading fiction, listening to music and going for a swim.
Yolisa's pronouns are she/her.
Get in touch with the Equity team
For questions about equity, equitable research or inclusive practices, contact inclusion@wellcome.org.
