Prof. Rodger Mwakigonja (Amos Rodger Mwakigonja) is a pathologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, where he has also served as Head of Department. His work centres on diagnostic histopathology and cancer diagnostics, with particular expertise in immunohistochemistry, immunocytochemistry and the use of tumour and prognostic markers.
Much of his research examines cancers linked to HIV and viral infection in Tanzania. He has studied oral and cutaneous Kaposi sarcoma, including how it presents, its immunopathology and its link to human herpesvirus-8. He has also studied malignant lymphomas, covering WHO classification and links to HIV and Epstein-Barr virus. Other work looks at hormone receptor and HER2 status in breast cancer at Muhimbili National Hospital, risk and prognostic indicators in women undergoing mastectomy, cervical cytology in HIV-infected patients, and Epstein-Barr virus protein expression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. He has contributed to studies of head injury in medicolegal autopsies and of mitral valve histopathology. He has also co-authored case reports on uncommon conditions such as multicentric Castleman disease and primary mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the scalp. He works with neurosurgical colleagues on brain tumours and neurotrauma, including research on glioma biomarkers.
Prof. Mwakigonja holds the MD and MMed degrees and is a Fellow of the College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (FCPath ECSA). He earned his PhD at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, in the Department of Oncology-Pathology. In 2009 he defended a thesis there on Kaposi sarcoma and malignant lymphomas in Tanzania during the AIDS epidemic.
Beyond diagnostic work and research, Prof. Mwakigonja has written on medical education at MUHAS. He wrote a tracer study on the review of the Doctor of Medicine curriculum and contributed to work on reforming health professions education at the university. He works with clinicians across Muhimbili National Hospital and with partners in Tanzania and abroad. He also co-authored the report of the Second Tanzania Liver Cancer Conference, held in 2025.