Christian Happi is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics and Director of the Institute of Genomics and Global Health (IGH) at Redeemer’s University, Nigeria. He earned his PhD from the University of Ibadan in 2000 and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University, where he also served as a Research Scientist (2004–2007). He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Prof. Happi’s research focuses on the genomics of infectious diseases such as Malaria, Lassa fever, Ebola, Monkeypox, HIV, Covid-19, and Marburg, as well as human genomics. He has published over 230 peer-reviewed papers, with over 32,000 citations and an H-Index of 55. With support from global funders, he founded ACEGID and IGH— the foremost advanced genomics center and Institute in Africa. He has been able to support pathogen and human genomic sequencing in 42 African countries and training over 2,500 scientists from 53 countries through these platforms.
His groundbreaking work in genomics and health leadership has earned him several prestigious honors, including the TIME100 Most Influential People in Health (2025), the HUGO Africa Prize (2019), and the Bailey K. Ashford Medal (2020). He is a Fellow of multiple academies, including the Nigerian Academy of Sciences and the US National Academy of Medicine.