The KEMRI Graduate School of Health Sciences (KGSHS) was approved by the KEMRI Board of Management in 1992.The School was founded with the guiding philosophy of commitment to high academic and professional standards,stressing the virtues of hard work and selfless service.It takes full cognisance of the dire need for a human resource base equipped with relevant skills and knowledge to provide solutions to the rapidly growing challenges in Kenya's health care delivery system.The mission of the school is therefore to develop graduates with a high degree of professionalism, innovativeness and motivation.

Since inception of the Graduate School, KEMRI has taken deliberate steps to offer its core staff opportunities to seek further training both locally and abroad.Indeed,its Kemri's tradition that members of staff joining the institute at th Diploma or Bachelors degree,or equivalent levels, proceed to obtain higher degrees at various local or international universities .In furthering the mission of the Graduate School,KEMRI has entered into very useful collaborations with various local, regional and universities through which several members of staff of the Institute have been able to obtain MSc. and PhD degrees.

While recognizing this impressive achievement in capacity building of its own staff, the Institute has had a desire to extend such capacity building in health sciences to non-KEMRI staff under the umbrella of its Graduate school.It is for this reason that KEMRI enterd into special collaborative agreements with two leading local universities: Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) and the University of Nairobi. JKUAT and KEMRI agreed,under a signed memorandum of understanding, to forge further development of advance eduacation and research activities in the promotion of health in Kenya,and indeed, globally, through a postgraduate programme at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases (ITROMID).

By combining the academic, research, training and linkage capacity available at both institutions, ITROMID provides a very fertile academic and research enviroment for young scientists in particular, to carry out research on the current pressing health issues in the world today.

These scientists will be expected to strive, as they aim for higher degrees, to find practical and workable solutions that they themselves will be proud to apply in their local communities.

These programmes, available both for Master of Science and PhD, include the following

1. Clinical Tropical Medicine,
2. Medical Microbiology,
3. Medical Virology,
4. Medical Mycology,
5. Mycobacteriology,
6. Medical Parasitology and Entomology,
7. Molecular Medicine in the following specialization area:
   • Applied Immunology,
   • Clinical Immunology and
   • Molecolar Biology,
8. Medicinal Phytochemistry,
9. Medical Chemistry,
10. Epidemiology,
11. International Health, and
12. Public Health

The total student population at the ITROMID graduate programme now stands at 636, out of which 490 students are pursuing MSc degree and the rest PhD. To date,10 students have successfully completed their PhD programme, while 92 students have received MSc degrees.

The advert for the programme features in the national newspapers during the last week of November, the intake is in April and the programme starts in May of each year.

As for the University of Nairobi, KEMRI has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Nairobi Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases (UNITID).Through the Graduate School of Health Sciences, KEMRI and UNITID shall collaborate in areas such as research, training, exchange of scientific visits and information, and student attachment programmes. Three MSc students have already enrolled into this programme under a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded HIV project, a joint collaboration between UNITID, KEMRI and the University of Manitoba, Canada. The programme is likely to enroll more students in the near future.