- Dr Ezekiel Mecha is Reproductive Biochemist and Endocrinologist, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Biochemistry, University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Dr Mecha is the director of Endometriosis East Africa, an organization involved in advocating for Endometriosis awareness campaigns, Progress in understanding the pathogenesis of endometriosis, different diagnostic approaches to endometriosis, treatment options of endometriosis and understanding of the Co-existence of the other uterine disorders (e.g. adenomyosis and uterine fibroids) in East Africa.
Dr Mecha’s research interests include identification of earlier diagnostic biomarkers of endometriosis, adenomyosis and cancer using metabolomics, proteomic and transcriptomic approaches. His research in endometriosis focusses in understanding the roles of Transforming Growth Factor betas/receptors superfamily molecules in pathogenesis of endometriosis.
Dr. Mecha is an associate editor of the Journal of Reproduction and Fertility since May 2021. He has been involved in organizing a number of workshops and conferences promoting endometriosis awareness and research in Kenya and Africa. In May 2021, Dr. Mecha organized the inaugural 1st East African Endometriosis Conference (https://east-african-endometriosis-conference.org/) which attracted participants and speakers from all over the world in the field of endometriosis whereby a number of topics covering endometriosis awareness, research and treatment were discussed. Dr. Mecha has initiated long term collaborations in endometriosis research with the University of Giessen and Frankfurt fertility center both from Germany. Also, Dr. Mecha has initiated a number of endometriosis research collaborations with the University of Edinburgh and Birmingham universities both from UK.
Recently Dr. Mecha initiated a collaborative agreement between Kenya Obstetrics and Gynecological Society (KOGS) with the European Endometriosis League (EEL). The collaboration between KOGS and EEL saw the invitation of the founding President of the European Endometriosis League (Prof Hans. Tinneberg) and the current president of EEL (Prof. Herald Krentel) giving key note addresses during the 46th KOGS conference which took place in Mombasa city Kenya from 16th -18th February 2021 and thereafter, the two took part in a workshop on minimal invasive surgery in Kenya. The workshop was sponsored by Laparoscopy Mashinani which is an initiative whose objective is to provide affordable surgical services to rural communities in Kenya. The KOGs and EEL also discussed the modalities of sending Kenyan doctors to get specialized training in Europe.
Dr Mecha has a long standing commitment in advancing endometriosis awareness and research in Africa. He has published and presented widely a lot of papers on the role of Transforming growth factor betas superfamily and their receptors in the pathogenesis of endometriosis both in Kenya and internationally. He has been awarded a number of grants to conduct endometriosis research and awareness campaigns in the Africa. He has also been involved in creating endometriosis awareness in Kenya through organization of meetings with the communities, endometriosis patients, gynecologists, Kenya ministry of Health and other NGOs involved in endometriosis awareness campaigns in the Kenya. He has published a number of articles in the Kenyan daily newspapers and actively given talks on endometriosis awareness in the various TV stations in Kenya. Currently, Dr. Mecha is spearheading the formation of an African endometriosis lobby which will be involved in bringing together all the endometriosis experts in the continent and also scale up the endometriosis awareness campaigns in Africa.
Dr. Mecha feels that it is extremely important to have global collaborations in endometriosis research especially from the angle of metabolomics, proteomic and transcriptomic approaches. This approaches will be important in the identification of earlier diagnostic markers for endometriosis for effective therapeutic intervention. He is both an endometriosis research scientist and a great advocate for endometriosis research, awareness and better management.