Dr Obonyo (left) with His Excellency Amb. John Tipis, High Commissioner for Kenya (right).

The Common Good Research Fellow Dr Obonyo joined TPCH’s Critical Care Research Group in 2014 and was awarded a Research Fellowship and an Innovation Grant from The Foundation in 2021.

Dr Obonyo’s fascination with medicine started at a young age when he volunteered at hospitals and nursing homes as part of his education at the Alliance High School in his home country of Kenya. Here he was introduced to influential doctors and was inspired to learn more about how to help the sick.

After receiving his medical degree from the University of Nairobi, Dr Obonyo took an internship at the Kijabe Mission Hospital in the outskirts of Nairobi.

As part of his paediatric rotation, Dr Obonyo cared for critically ill children who experienced septic shock from blood-borne infections. At the time the main treatment option for septic shock was intravenous fluid bolus, where a large volume of fluid is rapidly administered to try and improve a patient’s blood pressure. The outcomes however were not always optimal with many patients dying hours after initial improvement.

So, in 2011, Dr Obonyo joined the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research program to examine the supporting evidence for the septic shock treatment guidelines. Subsequently in 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Global Health Research Fellowship from the Wellcome Trusts Centre for Global Health Research at the Imperial College London for his work on the management of septic shock in critically ill children.

With an estimated incidence of 49 million cases annually of sepsis and a 20 per cent death rate in the developed world, this research has enormous implications for the health outcomes of millions of people. The continuation of this important research would not be possible without the support of The Common Good.

Dr Obonyo was recently invited to a reception to His Excellency Amb. John Tipis, High Commissioner for Kenya to discuss his research and future collaborations with his home country. The event was organised by Kenyans in Queensland, a networking group that promotes Kenyan culture and foreign exchanges across the state.