­­­Marx Itabelo Lwabanya, MD, EMHL

Bio

Dr. Marx Lwabanya is a Public Health Researcher at Nundu Deaconess Hospital, a rural hospital in South Kivu, D.R. Congo, and at Van Norman Clinic in Bujumbura, Burundi. He is the co-founder and Executive Director of JALI AFYA, a non-profit organization dedicated to addressing social determinants of health and building healthier communities in eastern DRC.

Marx is passionate about maternal and newborn health, particularly in limited-resource settings. His work emphasizes a holistic approach to healthcare, integrating mental and physical health to improve patient outcomes.

He won the Brown Master’s Award for Professional Excellence (2017) for his efforts to improve neonatal care by developing an online training program for neonatal care nurses and midwives using social media platforms, and by establishing a peer-mentoring program for at-risk mothers at the Van Norman Clinic in Bujumbura.

He is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity, a program offered by George Washington University that develops leaders with the knowledge, skills, and courage to build more equitable health systems, organizations, and communities. In 2025, he served on the Senior Fellow Advisory Board.

Currently, Marx is also an Obama Leader Africa Fellow, part of the Obama Foundation’s ongoing fellowship program that nurtures emerging leaders across the continent who are committed to driving positive change in their communities.

Marx holds an MA in Healthcare Leadership from Brown University and a Bachelor of Medicine from UOB, Bukavu, DRC.