Jean Claude Mbanya

Jean Claude Mbanya is a Cameroonian professor of medicine and endocrinology. He is the Dean Doctoral School of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences at the University of Yaoundé 1. He is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians. He was a former President and currently the honorary leader of the International Diabetes Federation.

Education

Mbanya obtained his medical degree from the University of Yaoundé in 1979. He received his PhD and MRCP from University of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 2011, he received a Doctor Philosophiae honoris causa from the University of Oslo for his contributions to the cause of diabetes.

Career

Although Mbanya was awarded a scholarship to study chemical engineering at the formative part of his career, he was motivated to become a doctor by his father who had diabetes. He is a professor of medicine and endocrinology, the Postgraduate Dean of the Doctoral School of Life, Health and Environmental Sciences at the University of Yaoundé, and a Consultant Physician and Director of the National Obesity Centre at the University Teaching Hospital in Yaoundé.

Research interests

Mbanya focused on epidemiology of non-communicable diseases which includes diabetes and its complications, ethno-pharmacology, molecular biology of diabetes, hypertension, thyroid diseases and their implications on the health care systems of developing countries.

Membership and fellowship

Mbanya is a fellow of African Academy of Sciences, the World Academy of Sciences, Royal College of Physicians and Cameroon Academy of Sciences.

Awards

In 2004, he received the American Diabetes Association Harold Rifkin Award for his international contributions to the cause of Diabetes and in 2009 he was also given the Philip Sherlock Award of the University Outreach Diabetes Group, Jamaica.