Professor Alexander Ansah Manu is a statistical epidemiologist and public health physician with over two decades of experience in clinical care, public health, and global health policy. He is the Executive Director of the Centre for Social Justice, appointed in January 2025 to strengthen the Centre’s advocacy, research, and community engagement and to position it as a thought leader in social justice and policy reform.

Professor Manu is also Director of the Institute of Health Research at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), where he leads the institute’s applied research agenda across health systems, maternal and child health, and disease diagnostics. His distinguished research career has included leadership of major grants and consultancies such as the Newhints Intervention Trial and the WHO AMANHI cohort harmonisation and its follow-on early childhood development trials. As a strategic advisor to UNICEF and the wider UN system, including WHO and UNFPA, he has led initiatives in Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Quality Improvement, and his work operationalising maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems has influenced global health standards. He has partnered with leading global organisations including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, and Save the Children.

Professor Manu holds an MD, a diploma in Paediatrics, an MSc in Medical Statistics, and a PhD in Epidemiology. He is a recipient of the 2013 Cecily Williams Prize, awarded by the University of London for his doctoral thesis, and his research has been featured in publications including The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine. A committed mentor who has supervised more than twenty Masters and PhD students, he champions research that informs real-world policy and the role of African institutions in building equitable, resilient health systems.