Biography

Associate Professor Juliana Kagura is an epidemiologist in the School of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand with a special interest in implementation science. Her research focuses on how early-life factors shape health trajectories across the life course and how evidence-based innovations can be adapted, implemented, and sustained in diverse settings to prevent and manage chronic diseases. She is committed to advancing implementation science that is locally relevant, equity-oriented, and responsive to the needs of low and low- and middle-income countries.

Juliana has made significant contributions to implementation science capacity strengthening across Africa through research, teaching, mentorship, and international collaborations. She currently co-leads the European Commission-funded IS4NCDs consortium, a capacity-strengthening initiative focused on non-communicable diseases in Southern Africa. She has also contributed to major training programmes, including the NIH-funded PETRA and Wits-UNC Implementation Science initiatives, and has served as a Technical Advisor to WHO/TDR, supporting the development of implementation research competencies for LMICs.

Her recent contribution to the Lancet Global health special issue on decolonising implementation science highlights the importance of African knowledge systems, lived experiences, and epistemologies in evidence generation and application. The paper advocates for locally derived frameworks and implementation strategies that support more equitable, culturally relevant, and sustainable health solutions across Africa.