Global First: Kenyan among first four students to graduate with master's in Nuclear Medicine

John Gitau Wairimu who is the first Kenyan to graduate with a master’s degree in Nuclear Medicine  and among the first four to do so globally. [Photo: Courtesy]

 Kenyan living in the US has joined an elite rank of students to become the first four to graduate with a Master’s degree in Nuclear Medicine Technology.

 John Gitau Wairimu,34, graduated with three other Americans from the University of Alabama,Birmingham UAB --- fete never achieved in the whole of United States.

Gitau, who also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health with a major in epidemiology from the same university has his eyes on a Ph.D in Healthcare management to begin in 2018.  

His degree will be handy in diagnosing and determining the severity levels of diseases including various types of cancers and heart diseases which are ballooning in Kenya.

“I have rubbed shoulders with some of the greatest scientists and physicians in the world at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and having learnt from them, I feel ready and confident enough to go out in the World and have an impact in someone’s life,” Gitau told reporters.

Recently in Kenya, Kabarak University launched a 500-bed multi-disciplinary tertiary hospital in Kabarak, Nakuru County.

The  modern facility will be one of the few institutions in Kenya  with the latest nuclear  medical equipment . The hospital hopes to attract Kenyan health professionals working abroad  even as it seeks to retain graduates who might have otherwise left.