Borlaug LEAP Alumni George Tinega believes the most important ingredient for success is to have focus from start to finish. He has applied that philosophy in the pursuit of his Master’s degree and fellowship. George recently received his Master's degree from Jomo Kenyatta University in Kenya.  His research looked at the genetic diversity of Salmonella, focusing on pig farming systems in Uganda. The results are expected to benefit farmers as well as inform government food safety policies.

For his Borlaug LEAP Fellowship, Tinega worked with a leading expert in bacterial genetics, Dr. Barbara E. Murray, M.D., Director in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. During the past 30 years, her laboratory has been studying human bacterial infections, antimicrobial resistance and pathogenesis markers. Training at the laboratory provided Tinega with a platform for acquiring state-of-the-art skills in scientific research related to his field of study.

Tinega’s training was also supported by his CGIAR mentor, Dr. Delia Grace, Senior Scientist at ILRI. Dr. Grace conducts research in animal health and veterinary public health. One of her major focuses is translating outputs of research into development outcomes. Tinega’s research was part of the CGIAR research program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health.

George is currently a researcher at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. Having completed his Master's degree in Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology in 2013, Tinega expects to pursue a PhD in the near future. He sees overcoming the problems of human health at the interface of agriculture as critical to improving human welfare and hopes his work will provide solutions.