Symon Kariuki

Posted on by William Mawia

Symon Kariuki

Research Scientist

ABOUT Symon Kariuki

Dr. Symon Kariuki is a Research Scientist within the Early Child Development (ECD) Unit under the Human Development Research theme. He supports studies aimed at characterizing the development trajectories of young children using epidemiological, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging approaches; designing, implementing, and evaluating the effectiveness of complex child-caregiver parental interventions and partnering with stakeholders to understand the situation of early child development and to use this information to co-create interventions including digital data platforms for informing research policy and practice.

He has collaborated closely with other research teams in conducting community-based surveys of epilepsy in informal settlements of Nairobi, including setting up public interventions to improve the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy in these settings. Symon has published over 95 articles in peer-reviewed journals, is actively involved in brain and mental health advocacy initiatives, and is passionate about teaching and mentoring junior research students.

Symon has postgraduate training in the intersection between epilepsy and neuropsychiatric conditions from Kings College London, UK, Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology training from the University of Oxford, UK, and Neurogenetics from Broad Institute, USA. He has worked at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, where, together with colleagues, he conducted research on epilepsy, neurodevelopmental disorders, and mental health conditions and directed the Neuroscience Research unit between 2018 and 2024.

He is also a visiting scientist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, where he launched his research career shortly after completing his undergraduate training in Nursing Sciences at the University of Nairobi and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford.

Symon is motivated by the potential application of research outputs to inform decisions and policy, which can, in turn, improve people’s well-being.

When not active in research, Symon enjoys gardening, listening to music, and spending time with family.