Clinical Research

Bio


Charles was born in Kenya, qualified in Cape Town, South Africa, with postgraduate training in Paediatrics in Manchester and London, United Kingdom. As a lecturer at University of Oxford, he returned to Kilifi Kenya in 1989, to help set up an unit to study severe malaria in African children. Thereafter he spent 2 years as a Post-doctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins, USA; studying mechanisms of brain damage in central nervous system infections. He completed his training in Paediatric Neurology at Great Ormond Street Hospital, UK. In 1998 he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellowship at University College London, to return to Kilifi, to study CNS infections in children. He has published on a wide variety of subjects concerning sick children in tropical countries. In 2011 he took up a professorship in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford to concentrate of neurological and mental illness disorders in children living in Africa.

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Current Work


He conducts research on CNS infections in children; epidemiological studies of epilepsy and neurological impairment; tetanus, jaundice and sepsis in neonates. At present he is conducting studies of Autism and Epilepsy in Africa and working on sickle cell disease in Tanzania.

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Recent publications


Supporting African communities to increase resilience and mental health of kids with developmental disabilities and their caregivers using the World Health Organization's Caregiver Skills Training Programme (SPARK trial): study protocol for a cluster randomised clinical controlled trial.
Washington-Nortey, M., Angwenyi, V., Demissie, M., Mwangome, E., Eshetu, T., Negussie, H., Goldsmith, K., Healey, A., Feyasa, M., Medhin, G., Belay, A., Azmeraw, T., Getachew, M., Birhane, R., Nasambu, C., Kifle, T. H., Kairu, A., Mkubwa, B., Girma, F., Abdurahman, R., Tsigebrhan, R., Tesfaye, L., Mbonani, L., Seward, N., Charman, T., Pickles, A., Salomone, E., Servili, C., Barasa, E., Newton, C. R., Hanlon, C., Abubakar, A., Hoekstra, R. A.
Trials, (2024). 25:713

Psychological Distress Among Ethnically Diverse Participants From Eastern and Southern Africa.
Tindi, K. B. B., Kalungi, A., Kinyanda, E., Gelaye, B., Martin, A. R., Galiwango, R., Ssembajjwe, W., Kirumira, F., Pretorius, A., Stevenson, A., Newton, C. R. J. C., Stein, D. J., Atkinson, E. G., Mwesiga, E. K., Kyebuzibwa, J., Chibnik, L. B., Atwoli, L., Baker, M., Alemayehu, M., Mwende, R. M., Stroud, R. E., Teferra, S., Gichuru, S., Kariuki, S. M., Zingela, Z., Nyirenda, M., Fatumo, S., Akena, D. H.
JAMA Netw Open, (2024). 7:e2438304

A digital dashboard for reporting mental, neurological and substance use disorders in Nairobi, Kenya: Implementing an open source data technology for improving data capture.
Mwanga, D. M., Waruingi, S., Manolova, G., Wekesah, F. M., Kadengye, D. T., Otieno, P. O., Bitta, M., Omwom, I., Iddi, S., Odero, P., Kinuthia, J. W., Dua, T., Chowdhary, N., Ouma, F. O., Kipchirchir, I. C., Muhua, G. O., Sander, J. W., Newton, C. R., Asiki, G.
PLOS Digit Health, (2024). 3:e0000646

Attitudes and perceptions towards epilepsy in an onchocerciasis-endemic region of Tanzania: a mixed approach to determine the magnitude and driving factors.
Mushi, V. P., Kidima, W., Massawe, I. S., Magili, P. F., Bhwana, D., Kaaya, R. E., Kimambo, H., Hyera, H. F., Matuja, W., Sen, A., Sander, J. W., Colebunders, R., Mahone, S., Newton, C. R., Mmbando, B. P.
BMC Public Health, (2024). 24:2608

Prevalence of onchocerciasis and epilepsy in a Tanzanian region after a prolonged community-directed treatment with ivermectin.
Mushi, V. P., Bhwana, D., Massawe, I. S., Makunde, W., Sebukoto, H., Ngasa, W., Sengerema, J., Mhina, A., Hayuma, P. M., Kimambo, H., Kidima, W., Matuja, W., Sander, J. W., Cross, H., Sen, A., Colebunders, R., Newton, C. R., Mmbando, B. P.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis, (2024). 18:e0012470