Dr. Sheila Ochugboju is the Executive Director for the Alliance for Science, a global communications initiative, based at the Boyce Thompson Institute, affiliated with Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State.  

She  is a futurist, international development expert and communication specialist who has been working in research science and international development for more than 15 years. She most recently served as head of strategic communications for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition to senior management roles in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, she has worked with international think tanks, various United Nations agencies, multilateral institutions and philanthropic organizations across Europe, Africa and Asia. 

Sheila is an inaugural TED Africa Fellow, co-founder of two knowledge management and media consultancies – Africa Knows and The Center for Development Intelligence (CDI). 

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Medical Biochemistry and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry from the University of London and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in baculovirus expression at the University of Oxford. Sheila has been working at senior levels in Kenya for over 10 years. In 2016, she was appointed Global Roving Ambassador for the County Government of Kisumu, with a portfolio of Transformative Science and Urban Resilience. The Alliance for Science has formed strategic partnerships with Kenyan Institutions to set up a hub for the Global South, overseeing activities across Africa, Latin America and Asia. The goal is to foster greater south-south collaborations, enabling the Global Majority in the Global South to contribute better to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).