Charles Olweny

Professor Charles Mark Lwanga Olweny, MBChB, MMed, MD, FRACP, is a Ugandan physician, oncologist, academic and medical researcher. Currently he is a professor of medicine and Immediate past vice-chancellor at Uganda Martyrs University, based at Nkozi, Mpigi District, in Central Uganda.[1]

Charles Olweny
Born (1940-01-01) 1 January 1940
Tororo, Uganda
NationalityUgandan
CitizenshipUganda
Alma materMakerere University
(Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery)
(MMed - Internal Medicine)
(Doctor of Medicine)
Royal Australasian College of Physicians
(Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
Occupation(s)Physician, Researcher, Academic & Academic Administrator
Years active1971 – present
Known forMedical practice & research
TitleChancellor of Mbarara University and Professor of Medicine
Uganda Martyrs University
SpouseMrs. Olweny

Background

He was born in 1940, in Tororo, Tororo District, in Eastern Uganda.[2]

Education

Professor Olweny attended St. Peter's College Tororo, for his O-Level education (S1-S4).[3] He attended St. Mary's College Kisubi for his A-Level classes (S5-S6).[4] In 1961, Olweny entered Makerere University School of Medicine, the oldest medical school in Uganda and East Africa, which was founded in 1924.,[5] graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB), in 1966. Later, he obtained the degree of Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine (MMed). He followed that with the degree of Doctor of Medicine (MD), all from Makerere University. Olweny's chosen speciality is medical oncology.

Career

Charles Olweny served as the director of the Uganda Cancer Institute, from 1972 until 1982. Under his stewardship, the team of Ugandan medical researchers that he led were the first group to demonstrate that liver cancer could be successfully treated with chemotherapy using the drug doxorubicin, which is still the mainstay of treatment for liver cancer today. They were also able to confirm that Burkitt lymphoma could be cured with a high dose of chemotherapy and showed that the same was true for childhood Hodgkin disease. They documented the incidence of endemic Kaposi sarcoma in children and conducted clinical trials on how to treat it.[6]

During the same timeframe, Olweny served – first as a lecturer, then senior lecturer and later as professor of Medicine – in the Faculty of Internal Medicine, at Makerere University School of Medicine, serving as head of department, from 1979 until 1982. While in Australia, during the 1980s, he served as clinical professor at the Department of Medicine & Surgery, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia. He also served as senior director for Medical Oncology, Cancer Control Programme, Royal Adelaide Hospital.

In the 1990s, Dr. Olweny migrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, to take up appointment as medical oncologist at St. Boniface General Hospital, in Winnipeg. He also served as coordinator, Section of Hematology & Oncology at CancerCare Manitoba,[7] and as an associate staff at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. He was appointed to his present position in 2006 and assumed office in September of that year.[8][9] Professor Charles Olweny has written over 20 books and over 120 professional articles.[10] On 1 January 2015, Professor Olweny retired as the Vice Chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University, handing over to Prof. Dr. John Chrysostom Maviiri, formerly Vice Chancellor of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi.[11]

Prof. Charles Olweny was installed Chancellor of Mbarara University of Science and Technology on 28 October 2017.[12]

Personal details

Professor Charles Olweny is married, with five adult children.

See also

References
  1. "Professor Charles Olweny Is Vice Chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University". Uganda Martyrs University. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  2. Nsambu, Jean-Marie (11 June 2006). "Nkozi Gets New Boss". New Vision via AllAfrica.com. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  3. Owor, Mark (14 July 2007). "St Peters College Tororo Gets New Laboratory". New Vision. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  4. Kavuma, Richard (19 June 2008). "Easy Thursday: Kisubi Sons Come Home". The Observer (Uganda). Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  5. Ninsiima, Rachael (8 September 2013). "Meet The Pioneer of Medical Studies at Makerere University". The Observer (Uganda). Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  6. Savage, Liz (2007). "Former African Cancer Research Powerhouse Makes Plans for a Return to Greatness". JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 99 (15): 1144–1151. doi:10.1093/jnci/djm099. PMID 17652270.
  7. "About CancerCare Manitoba". CancerCare Manitoba. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  8. Green, Andrew (22 July 2012). "Academic Oncologist Brings Altruistic Dynamism To Catholic University". University World News: Issue No:231. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  9. Lubega, Henry (6 October 2013). "Dr. Olweny Went on Leave But Never Returned To Office". Daily Monitor (Kampala). Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  10. "East Africa ICT & Higher Education Symposium 2010: Speaker Biographies: Charles Lwanga Mark Olweny". Eastafricasymposium.org. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  11. Okoth, Cecilia (25 November 2014). "Outgoing UMU Vice Chancellor Launches Autobiography". New Vision (Kampala). Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  12. "Prof Olweny is new Mbarara University Chancellor". The Independent Uganda. 29 October 2017. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
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