Elizabeth Merab is a decorated Kenyan-based journalist, communications specialist, trainer, and moderator who covers health and science issues broadly related to infectious diseases, including outbreaks, preparedness, research, and vaccine and drugs development.

As a journalist and a person living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), Merab has spent her career bridging the gap between scientists and/or doctors, professionals, and lay audiences by analyzing and translating technical information into relatable creative stories.

Through her articles and use of technology, she has consistently called on governments to prioritize health, and has had a positive impact on Kenya’s health system where her articles have instigated significant changes in some health policies.

In 2021, she became the first recipient of the Global Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Journalism Award by Amref Health Africa where she was awarded alongside World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the regional director of WHO-Africa, and Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa CDC, who received an award for the leadership in global health, respectively.

Merab is also a health communications specialist, speaker, moderator, and trainer who has lent her expertise to organizations like the East African Community (EAC) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) Risk and Crisis Communication sub-working group to support pandemic preparedness in the east African region (PanPrep). In 2021, she collaborated on a media project looking at how health issues are currently being covered in the news by Sparknews, Paris, France.