Johnstone Thitiri is a clinical research practitioner with more than 15 years’ experience in paediatric infectious disease research, working with national and international organizations particularly in acute illness and childhood malnutrition. He has contributed to research programmes and clinical trials under neonates, infants and children, including vaccines, drugs and therapeutic feeds. He is a member of the Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition Network (CHAIN Network), an international consortium of researchers and clinicians across Africa and South East Asia that aims to characterize causes and mechanisms of deaths and other adverse outcomes among hospitalized acutely ill children in resource-limited settings.

Johnstone holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing sciences from the University of Nairobi and a master’s of science degree in clinical trials from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. His roles have included clinical research coordination and trial management, as well as clinical trial GCP monitoring. He is currently enrolled as a doctoral student at the Amsterdam UMC and the Amsterdam Public Health’s Global Health program (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5901-6651).

His research aims to evaluate paediatric hospital discharge process and communication in relation to post-discharge outcomes in resource-limited settings where post-discharge mortality has been shown to match inpatient mortality, despite application of current WHO standards of care. This work will contribute to understanding opportunities for hospital interventions to improve transition of care from hospital to communities for caregivers and families of children with acute illnesses in low and middle-income settings.