Dorothy Echodu

Dr. Dorothy Echodu is the CEO of Pilgrim Africa. In the decade she’s worked with Pilgrim Africa, she has led and overseen the organization’s engagement in malaria control and advocacy. On the control side, Pilgrim Africa focuses on community-scale field exercises using both tested and novel approaches to comprehensive control in high transmission areas. On the advocacy side, Pilgrim Africa emphasizes the high human and economic toll caused by ongoing tolerance of high morbidity as well as mortality, and continually strives for just, economically realistic solutions to the need for more malaria control. In 2013, Pilgrim Africa pioneered the largest issue-related social media campaign in East Africa on the topic of a “Malaria Free Uganda”. Dorothy pioneered the efforts leading to a 3.5 million dollar grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as fortifying strong partnerships with Rotary International, Rotarian Malaria Partners, President’s Malaria Initiative, and the American Institutes for Research. Today these alliances and combined efforts bring comprehensive control to a poor, rural, highly endemic region in Eastern Uganda.

Dorothy is also engaged and interested in pedagogy for innovation. She trained as a physical chemist with degrees from Yale (BA), University of Washington (PhD), and Johns Hopkins University of Public Health (MPH), and her work experience includes basic research into HIV-1 RNA, physics education research, and cross-cultural communication of values.