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Dr. Evelyn Gitau is the Chief Scientific Officer for the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation) where she provides strategic leadership and vision for the organisation's science portfolio. A seasoned scientist with over 20 years’ of experience in biomedical research, Evelyn is highly skilled in programme management, grants management, fundraising, strategy, policy, and monitoring, learning and evaluation. She is harnessing this experience, together with her interdisciplinary expertise in impact evaluation, implementation research, cellular immunology, molecular biology and infectious diseases, to lead a proficient and experienced programme team at the SFA Foundation who are designing, managing and mobilising funding for the science and innovation programmes being delivered across the continent, in partnership with African and global partners. Through her leadership, the SFA Foundation is promoting the efficient delivery of its programmes, ensuring that the insights and evidence they generate inform Africa's development agenda and position the SFA Foundation as a global thought leader. Additionally, she is driving high-level relationship building and advocacy with partner organisations as she positions the public charity. Prior to this role, she served as the Director of Programmes at the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC). She has received numerous awards, including recognition as the Next Einstein Forum Fellow for the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. She sits on the advisory board of several organisations advancing Africa’s science and evidence generation agenda. The holder of a PhD in Life Sciences from the Open University/Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, is committed to mentoring and supervising researchers, believing that the next generation of research leaders in Africa must be at the forefront of the continent’s development agenda, to shape decision-making and policy with evidence.