Overview

Dr. Vedaste HABYALIMANA

Head of Drugs Department

Dr. Vedaste HABYALIMANA is the Head of the Drugs Department at the Rwanda FDA since April 2024. He brings with him a wealth of experience, having previously held the position of head of the former Food and Drugs Assessment and Registration Department, as well as serving as the Quality Assurance Analyst at Rwanda FDA.

Dr. Vedaste is highly proficient in the development and coordination of Quality Management Systems (QMS) and has played a key role in the process of certifying Rwanda FDA’s QMS to the ISO 9001:2015 standard. He has also been involved in WHO benchmarking for maturity level 3 (ML3), an essential requirement for the regulation of vaccine manufacturing and vaccine lot release processes.

With over 15 years of practical experience in Quality Assurance and Quality Control of essential medicines and health commodities, Dr. Vedaste has held significant roles at LABOPHAR (Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Rwanda) and the Rwanda Biomedical Center / Medical Procurement and Production Division (RBC/MPPD currently RMS Ltd.).

Educationally, Dr. Vedaste holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the National University of Rwanda (currently the University of Rwanda), as well as a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences – with a specialization in Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry from the University of Liège (ULiège, Belgium). His scientific experience includes research conducted at the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry (LPAC) in the Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Medicines (CIRM) of ULiège, Belgium.

Dr. Vedaste actively contributes to academia as a part-time Lecturer and Theses Supervisor in the Pharmacy Department at the University of Rwanda / College of Medicine and Health Sciences (UR-CMHS), and at the EAC-Regional Center of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management (UR-HSCM). Additionally, he focuses his research on the Quality of medicines and other health commodities, Systems compliance with international standards/guidelines, and application of best practices (GxP), among other critical areas.

Dr. Jean Pierre MUNYAMPUNDU

Head of Food Department

Dr. Jean Pierre MUNYAMPUNDU is the Head of the Food Department since 18 September, 2026. Before his current role, he served as the Division Manager for Food Registration and Information Control at Rwanda FDA since April 2024. Before joining Rwanda FDA, he spent nearly 10 years at the University of Rwanda, where he worked as a Lecturer since September 2016 and as an Assistant Lecturer from December 2011 to August 2016.
While at the University of Rwanda, Dr. Munyampundu led the Biotechnology Laboratory Complex and the Molecular Laboratory Group in Huye Campus as Senior Lab Manager and Research Lead, respectively, from September 2018 to May 2021. He has contributed to teaching various courses, including Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology, and Genetic Engineering, and his research interests are Molecular Testing and Host-Pathogen Interactions.
Dr. Munyampundu has a Ph.D in Molecular Plant Pathology from the Institute of Biotechnology at Zhejiang University, China; and did Postdoctoral Research in Molecular Testing and Genomics of cryptic Malaria infections in Professor Alex Rowe’s Laboratory at the University of Edinburgh, UK, through Out of Africa Fellowship of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa (TIBA), from March 2019 to March 2020. He was also a Visiting Researcher in Prof. Jacob Souopgui’s Lab at the Institute for Molecular Biology and Medicine (IBMM) at Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, from 2017 to 2021. Dr. Munyampundu also holds a Master’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Xiamen University, China, in June 2011, and received advanced Scientific applications and training, including the Core Techniques and Application in Biotechnology training offered by PROMEGA, a global Biotechnology firm, in its Europe Training & Application Lab (PETAL) based in Lyon, France. His research interest is in host-pathogen interactions, with a focus on infectious diseases.

Mr. George NTAGANDA

Chief of Finance

George NTAGANDA is the current Chief Finance Officer. He has extensive experience in Health Supply Chain Management system design, policy development, strategic planning, and implementation. Before joining Rwanda FDA, George was working at the Rwanda Biomedical Center as corporate services program manager; managing over 20 projects health sector donor funds like Global Fund, UNDP, PEPFAR, GAVI, CDC and WORLD BANK.

George has over 17 years of experience in management of projects and public funds and is vastly experienced in designing financial controls, plans, strategies, guidelines and protocols (payments checklist for supporting documents, cashflow plan, setting priorities and forecasting during planning and budgeting, logistic and fleet management manuals and personnel management.

George holds a Masters of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance, Mount Kenya University and is a highly trained and experienced Audit and finance manager with more than fifteen years of experience in auditing and finance management.