Dr Chrissie Kantukule is the Deputy Director for the Centre for Social Research. She has a PhD in International Health from Tampere University, Finland (2015) and a Master of Public Health from University of Malawi’s College of Medicine (2008). She is a dedicated and innovative teaching professional and qualitative and quantitative researcher with management, research and training experience having worked progressively for the past 20 years.

She has knowledge and strong expertise in designing and implementation of nutrition intervention trials as well as health related projects and studies. Her experience is also in community mobilization; participatory development methodologies; capacity building; training and facilitation; monitoring and evaluation; strategic and operational planning; programme coordination and linkages; partnership building and networking and oral and written communication.

She has wide experience in curriculum development, lecturing and providing academic supervision to undergraduate and post graduate students. She is also experienced in conducting baseline, midterm and final evaluations for different organizations and programs.

Selected Publications from 2015

1. Stobaugh HC, Rogers BL, Webb P, Rosenberg IH, Thakwalakwa C, Maleta KM, Trehan I, Manary MJ. Household-level factors associated with relapse following discharge from treatment for moderate acute malnutrition. Br J Nutr. 2018 May;119(9):1039-1046. doi: 10.1017/S0007114518000363. Epub 2018 Mar 5.

2. Agapova SE, Stephenson KB, Divala O, Kaimila Y, Maleta KM, Thakwalakwa C, Ordiz MI, Trehan I, Manary MJ. Additional Common Bean in the Diet of Malawian Children Does Not Affect Linear Growth, but Reduces Intestinal Permeability. J Nutr. 2018 Feb 1;148(2):267-274. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxx013.

3. Theresa N. Ngoma, Ulemu K. Chimimba, Agnes M. Mwangwela, Chrissie Thakwalakwa, Kenneth M. Maleta, Mark J. Manary, Indi Trehan. Effect of cowpea flour processing on the chemical properties and acceptability of a novel cowpea blended maize porridge. PLoS ONE 13(7): e0200418. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0200418

4. Alfred Z Wang, Robert J Shulman, Audrey H Crocker, Chrissie Thakwalakwa, Kenneth M Maleta, Sridevi Devaraj, Mark J Manary, and Indi Trehan. A Combined Intervention of Zinc, Multiple Micronutrients, and Albendazole Does Not Ameliorate Environmental Enteric Dysfunction or Stunting in Rural Malawian Children in a Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2017;106:657–66.

5. Callaghan-Gillespie M, Schaffner AA, Garcia P, Fry J, Eckert R, Malek S, Trehan I, Thakwalakwa C, Maleta KM, Manary MJ, Papathakis PC. Trial of ready-to-use supplemental food and corn-soy blend in pregnant Malawian women with moderate malnutrition: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017. pii: ajcn157198. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.117.157198.

6. Stobaugh HC, Bollinger LB, Adams SE, Crocker AH, Grise JB, Kennedy JA, Thakwalakwa C, Maleta KM, Dietzen DJ, Manary MJ. Trehan I. Effect of a package of health and nutrition services on sustained recovery in children after moderate acute malnutrition and factors related to sustaining recovery: A cluster-randomized trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017;106(2):657-666. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.116.149799. Epub 2017 Jun 14.

7. Andrew B. Janowskia , Siddharth R. Krishnamurthyb , Efrem S. Limb , Guoyan Zhaob , Jason M. Brenchleyc , Dan H. Barouchd,e , Chrissie Thakwalakwaf , Mark J. Manarya , Lori R. Holtza , David Wang. Statoviruses, A novel taxon of RNA viruses present in the gastrointestinal tracts of diverse mammals. Virology. 2017 Apr;504:36-44. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2017.01.010. Epub 2017 Jan 30.

8. Stephenson KB¹, Agapova SE¹, Divala O², Kaimila Y², Maleta KM², Thakwalakwa C², Ordiz MI¹, Trehan I^1,3, Manary MJ^4,2,5. Complementary feeding with cowpea reduces growth faltering in rural Malawian infants: a blind, randomized controlled clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2017 Dec;106(6):1500-1507. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.117.160986. Epub 2017 Nov 1.

9. Heather C Stobaugh, Kelsey N Ryan, Julie A Kennedy, Jennifer B Grise, Audrey H Crocker, Chrissie Thakwalakwa, Patricia E Litkowski, Kenneth M Maleta, Mark J Manary, Indi Trehan.  Including whey protein and whey permeate in ready-to-use supplementary food improves recovery rates in children with moderate acute malnutrition: a randomized, double-blind clinical trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016 Mar;103(3):926-33. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.124636.

10. Mangani, Charles, Kenneth Maleta, John Phuka, Yin Bun Cheung, Chrissie Thakwalakwa, Kathryn Dewey, Mark Manary, Taneli Puumalainen, Per Ashorn. Effect of Complementary Feeding with Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements and Corn-Soy Blend on the Incidence of Stunting and Linear Growth Among 6- to 18-Month-Old Infants and Children in Rural Malawi.” Maternal & Child Nutrition 11 (December 2015): 132–143. doi:10.1111/mcn.12068.

11. Hsieh JC, Liu L, Zeilani M, Ickes S, Trehan I, Ken Maleta, Christina Craig, et al. High Oleic Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Maintains Docosahexaenoic Acid Status in Severe Malnutrition.” Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (January 2015): 1. doi:10.1097/mpg.0000000000000741.

12. Nicole Benzoni, Poonum Korpe, Chrissie Thakwalakwa, Ken Maleta, Kevin Stephenson, Micah Manary, andMark Manary Plasma endotoxin core antibody concentration and linear growth are unrelated in rural Malawian children aged 2–5 years. BMC Res Notes. 2015; 8: 258. Published online 2015 Jun 24. doi:  10.1186/s13104-015-1238-1

13. Hsieh JC, Liu L, Zeilani M, Ickes S, Trehan I, Maleta K, Craig C, Thakwalakwa C, Singh L, Brenna JT, Manary MJ. High-Oleic Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food Maintains Docosahexaenoic Acid Status in Severe Malnutrition. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 2015 Jul;61(1):138-43. doi: 10.1097/MPG.000000000000074.

14. Flax VL, Thakwalakwa C, Ashorn U. Perceptions of child body size and health care seeking for undernourished children in southern Malawi. Qual Health Res 2015 Oct 20. doi: 10.1177/1049732315610522.