Executive Director
Dr. Rhona Mijumbi-Deve
With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Rhona Mijumbi has dedicated her career to a mission of ensuring that science and knowledge actually reach the people who make the laws. She shapes policy by
navigating the complex, high-stakes interactions between researchers and government leaders.
Dr Rhona’s leadership spans the world’s most influential health and policy institutions. From her role as a Senior Lecturer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to her work with Oxford Policy Management and the United Nations University, she has been at the center of global health diplomacy. She has served as a technical advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO) and helped the Office of the Prime Minister in Uganda navigate complex evidence needs.
Dr Rhona is an architect of systems. Her PhD in Health Policy and dual Masters in Public Health and Epidemiology provided the foundation for her pioneering work in Rapid Response Mechanisms. She understands that in a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, where she served as an Advisory Member on the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Taskforce, speed is just as important as accuracy. Her focus is on making evidence-based policymaking a permanent, institutional habit rather than a one-off event.
She has invested decades into refining Rapid Response Mechanisms, a field she helped pioneer to ensure that during health crises or shifts in public policy, decision-makers aren’t left waiting months for answers. Her work in Health Diplomacy and Knowledge Translation is the scientific foundation for the tools ACRES uses every day.
By focusing her research on systemic institutionalization, Dr Rhona ensures that ACRES helps governments build the internal mechanisms to demand and use that data.
Selected Publications
Soares-Weiser K, Jordan Z, Boeira L, Mahlanza‐Langer L, Moy W, Mijumbi R, Foxlee R, Lavis JN. Call to action: building a better future together, powered by evidence, guided by collective impact. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2025, Issue 9. Art. No.: ED000175. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.ED000175.
- Nabyonga-Orem J, Mijumbi R. Evidence for informing health policy development in Low-income Countries (LICs): perspectives of policy actors in Uganda. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2015 Mar 8;4(5):285-93. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2015.52.
- Nabudere H, Asiimwe D, Mijumbi R. Task shifting in maternal and child health care: An evidence brief for Uganda. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care. 2011;27(2):173-179. doi:10.1017/S0266462311000055
- Chris Chibwana, Chris Maloney, Rhona Mijumbi, and Irene Mwendwa. Using evidence to improve lives in Uganda: https://hewlett.org/using-evidence-to-improve-lives-in-uganda/
- Mijumbi, R.M., Oxman, A.D., Panisset, U. et al.Feasibility of a rapid response mechanism to meet policymakers’ urgent needs for research evidence about health systems in a low income country: a case study. Implementation Sci 9, 114 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-014-0114-z
- Mijumbi-Deve Rhona, Jones Catherine, Juma Pamela, Sombgwi Joelle, Parkhurst Justin. Beyond the metrics of measures of Health Sciences Research performance. BMJ Global Health. 2021;6(7): e006019.
- Mijumbi-Deve, R.M., Kawooya, I., Kayongo, E. et al.Paper 1: Demand-driven rapid reviews for health policy and systems decision-making: lessons from Lebanon, Ethiopia, and South Africa on researchers and policymakers’ experiences. Syst Rev 11, 154 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-022-02021-3
- Robson, R.C., Thomas, S.M., Langlois, Mijumbi R., É.V. et al.Embedding rapid reviews in health policy and systems decision-making: Impacts and lessons learned from four low- and middle-income countries. Health Res Policy Sys 21, 45 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-023-00992-w
- Mijumbi-Deve, R., Rosenbaum, S.E., Oxman, A.D. et al.Policymaker experiences with rapid response briefs to address health-system and technology questions in Uganda. Health Res Policy Sys 15, 37 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-017-0200-1
- Mijumbi-Deve R, Ingabire M-G, Sewankambo NK. Complexities of Knowledge Translation: Reflections from REACH-PI Uganda’s rapid response mechanism. In: Georgalakis J, Jessani N, Oronje R, Ramalingam B, editors. The social realities of knowledge for development: Sharing lessons of improving development processes with evidence. Brighton: IDS/Impact Initiative; March 2017.
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