Dr Omary Chillo

Dr Omary Chillo is a lecturer in the Department of Physiology at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), where he has served as head of department. A medical doctor and cardiovascular scientist, he works on the molecular mechanisms of vascular pathophysiology and on the prevention of non-communicable diseases. He is also the founding president of the Tanzania Health Summit, a national healthcare platform. His laboratory research has examined how arteries develop and remodel in vascular occlusive disease. This work showed that activation of perivascular mast cells promotes the growth of collateral arteries that bypass a narrowed vessel and protect tissue from ischaemic injury. Related studies looked at the angiopoietins in forming new blood vessels after ischaemia, platelet glycoprotein Ibα in arterial remodelling, and mitochondrial thioredoxin reductase in endothelial function. In Tanzania, his research focuses on cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, elevated blood pressure and perceptions of body weight among primary school children in Dar es Salaam. He has also contributed to work on sickle cell disease, spirometric evaluation of patients with heart disease, and occupational and environmental exposures. As a Bernard Lown Scholar in Cardiovascular Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for 2022–23, he studied how the urban built environment relates to cardiometabolic risk among the urban poor. Dr Chillo received his medical degree from MUHAS in 2008 and worked as a physician at Muhimbili National Hospital. He then went to Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, where he worked at the Walter Brendel Centre of Experimental Medicine and completed his PhD with honours in 2014. He joined the MUHAS Department of Physiology as a lecturer in 2014. He later earned a master's degree in leadership and management from Mzumbe University. Besides teaching physiology, he directs the MUHAS Weight Loss Management Short Course. He is a founder member of the Tanzania Young Academy of Sciences and sits on the board of the Public Private Health Forum. He is an alumnus of the InterAcademy Partnership Young Physician Leaders programme (2017 cohort) and serves on its alumni steering committee.