Matthew Kiptonui Koech
Dr. Mathew Kiptonui Koech is a Kenyan nephrologist spearheading a new era of kidney care in the Rift Valley. After earning his MBChB from Moi University, he specialised in internal medicine and nephrology at Tygerberg Hospital and Stellenbosch University, South Africa, before returning to Eldoret in 2019.
As consultant nephrologist at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) and lecturer at Moi University, Dr Koech co-founded western Kenya’s first comprehensive transplant service. In the past two years his multidisciplinary team has completed more than 70 live-donor kidney transplants, procedures that previously forced patients to travel to India or South Africa, while achieving graft-survival rates comparable to global centres. He also directs satellite transplant programmes at Oak Tree Centre and St. Luke’s Hospital, expanding access to affordable dialysis and follow-up care across six counties.
Driven by a prevention ethos, Dr. Koech launched the Eldoret Kidney Screening Caravan, which has tested 14,000 residents for hypertension, diabetes, and early kidney disease, and trained 300 clinical officers in chronic-kidney-disease management. His research on transplant immunosuppression appears in the African Journal of Nephrology, and he mentors fellows through the Kenya Renal Association.
Balancing clinic, classroom, and community, Dr. Koech is transforming kidney health from a last-resort referral to a locally delivered continuum of care—giving thousands of Kenyans a renewed lease on life.