Francis Omaswa

Francis Gervase Omaswa, MBChB, MMed, FRCS (Edin), FCS (ECSA), is a Ugandan cardiovascular surgeon, academic and administrator. He was installed as the chancellor of Soroti University, one of the nine public universities in Uganda at that time, in August 2022.

He previously served as the chancellor of Busitema University, another Ugandan public university, between 2009 and 2017. He has served in that capacity since June 2009.

In 1979, he accepted an invitation by the Kenyan Government to become the head of cardio-thoracic surgery at Kenyatta National Hospital and the University of Nairobi. He worked in that capacity until 1982. From 1983 until 1986, he served as the Medical Director and Chief of Surgery at Ngora Freda Carr Hospital, in Ngora, Teso sub-region. From 1987 until 1992 he served as the first Medical Director of Uganda Heart Institute, which he helped to establish. He concurrently served as Professor of Surgery at Makerere University School of Medicine. From 1992 until 1999, he served as the Chief Government Surgeon and head of the Quality Assurance Program that he established at the Ministry of Health. In April 1999, he became the Director General of health services at the Uganda Ministry of Health, a position he held until 2005 when the WHO director general, Dr. Margaret Chan, invited him to set up the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). He moved to Geneva, Switzerland to set up the Alliance. He returned to Uganda in 2008 and was appointed chancellor at Busitema University in 2009.

Following his internship, Omaswa worked as a medical officer from 1970 until September 1974, when he left for further studies in the United Kingdom. He trained as a cardiothoracic surgeon. He then worked for the National Health Service (NHS), eventually becoming a Senior Registrar in cardio-thoracic surgery there.

Omaswa was born in Mukula Village, Kumi District, in the Eastern Region of Uganda, circa 1943. His parents were Yafesi Ijookit and Matilda Acom. He attended Mukura Primary School from P1 to P4, then transferred to Koloin Primary School from P5 to P6. After passing his Primary Leaving Examinations, he joined Holy Angels Junior Secondary School in Soroti District for his Junior One and Two. He then studied at St. Mary's College Kisubi, for both his O-Level and A-Level education. In 1964, he was admitted to the Makerere University School of Medicine, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. In 1974, he received a Master of Medicine in surgery degree from Makerere University. He subsequently was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He is also a fellow of the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa, a college he helped found.