Esther Daniel Mwaikambo (born 1940) is a Tanzanian medical doctor. She is a senior paedriatician and Professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at the Hubert Kairuki Memorial University.[1]
Mwaikambo graduated MD from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in 1969. As Tanzania's first female doctor, the Swahili newspaper Uhuru profiled her in a series 'women of today's Tanzania'.[2] She gained a Master of Medicine (Paediatrics) from the University of Dar es Salaam in 1977. In 1982 she gained a Diploma in childhood infectious dieases and immunology from the Institute of Child Health in London, and in 1995 she gained a Certificate in Behavioural Sciences from Harvard University.
In 1987 Mwaikambo founded the medical women association of Tanzania, using the association to drive Tanzania's breast cancer program.[3]
From 2001 to 2012 Mwaikambo served as chair of the Board of Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA).[4] In October 2009 she was Harvard Distinguished Africa Lecturer, lecturing on the challenges of establishing a medical university in Tanzania.[5] As President of the Tanzania Academy of Science, Mwaikambo called for Tanzanian media to promote local scientific innovations.[6]
In 2018 Esther Mwaikambo was elected as an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[7]