Francis Oketch Ochieng, a mathematical modeller with a postgraduate training in computational mathematics, works as a postdoctoral researcher on infectious disease modeling at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). He has also lectured Applied Mathematics courses at USIU-Africa, JKUAT, KCA University, and Gretsa University in Kenya. He is a skilled and results-oriented expert in mathematical modeling and computer programming, with over seven years of experience in academia and industry. His competencies include infectious disease modeling, data analytics, and computational fluid dynamics, using computer programming languages such as Python, R, MATLAB, and Mathematica. His current research focusses on developing and simulating data-driven system dynamic models incorporating the impacts of climate, land use, and demographic changes on the occurrence and transmission of arboviral diseases such as dengue and chikungunya. He co-leads the modelling work package of the ARBO-WATCH project, which is funded by the Wellcome Trust. He works with various actors in the public and private sectors in the development of decision support tools for managing disease risks based on information generated from mathematical models.
Francis obtained Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in 2024, M.Sc. in Computational Mathematics from the Pan African University Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (PAUSTI) in 2018, another M.Sc. in Financial Engineering at WorldQuant University (WQU) in 2026, and B.Sc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from JKUAT in 2015. He is a member of the Applied Malaria Modeling Network (AMMnet), African Society for Biomathematics (ASB), American Mathematical Society (AMS), and Foundations of Computational Mathematics (FoCM). He has published more than 12 research papers in high-impact peer-reviewed journals and refereed conference proceedings. He has strong experience in research, graduate and postgraduate student supervision, and teaching applied mathematics courses at the university level. He has also volunteered as a peer reviewer for several reputable scientific journals.