Dr. Gladwell Kiarie graduated with MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) degrees from The University of Nairobi Medical School in 1999 and went ahead to receive her post graduate degree in Internal Medicine from the same institution in 2004. She worked in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in various clinical capacities before proceeding to pursue her fellowship in Medical Oncology in London, England in 2005.
She returned to Kenya and worked in the department of Hematology/Oncology at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). She participated in setting up the first Kenyatta National Hospital Tumor Board in 2007 that runs to date and facilitates multidisciplinary management of cancer patients. She was also involved in the creation of the oncology department at The Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi the same year.
In 2008, Dr. Kiarie was seconded by KNH to join the University of Nairobi (UoN) Department of Clinical Medicine and Therapeutics as a Lecturer. She taught both postgraduate and undergraduate medical students and offered them mentorship as well as supervision of dissertations. She also participated in departmental research activities, the most notable including: a Burkitt’s Lymphoma grant project 2008, the breast cancer research project (BRECC) and the chronic myeloid leukemia project (GIPAP). Furthermore, she has published more than a dozen papers in peer review journals.
She has actively participated in generation of various national cancer guidelines in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. In 2014 she was promoted to the position of a senior lecturer at the University.
In 2018 she took leave from the University to pursue diverse interests in Oncology including enrolling for a PhD program at the Bart’s Cancer Institute in London. She continues to offer service as an external examiner to the UoN oncology fellowship.
Dr. Kiarie became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCPE) in April 2018.
Dr. Kiarie runs a private practice at The Nairobi Hospital and also reviews patients at other leading hospitals in Nairobi, including The Aga Khan University Hospital, MP Shah Hospital and Avenue Hospital.
She is the chairperson of the Division of Medicine at The Nairobi Hospital and sits in the Hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee (MAC). She sits in six hospital committees including the Nairobi Hospital COVID-19 taskforce in her capacity as Chair of Medicine.
Dr. Kiarie served as a member of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board from 2015 to 2020 in the registration and peer review committees. She served as a Board Member of Precious Blood Girls’ Secondary School as Alumni Representative from 2012
to 2015.
She is a member of the Kenya Society of Hematology and Oncology (KESHO) where she also served as the treasurer in 2004. Further, she is a full member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as well as European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).
In May 2018 to August 2019, Dr. Kiarie spearheaded the creation of an oncology clinic at the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital which is a public hospital. Thousands of patients receive chemotherapy, surgery, endoscopy/ colonoscopy interventions annually at this clinic. She also the facilitated signing of an MoU with The Nairobi Hospital for Nakuru PGH patients to get radiotherapy services through NHIF co-shared financing.
Through a charity initiative she initiated in 2009, co -sponsored by well-wishers and some corporate organizations, Dr. Kiarie has overseen screening of over 6,000 women through medical camps in rural sites in Kenya. In recognition for this, she won the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) travel grant in 2014 for screening in poor resource settings.
Dr. Kiarie continues to be an advocate for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer and is greatly involved in programs that focus on providing easy access to basic screening services to the under privileged including setting up oncology services at county level.
