Professor William Bazeyo a Ugandan physician, innovative medical researcher, and academician is among the group of five individuals who will join lawyer, author, and civil rights advocate Bryan Stevenson, in receiving honorary degrees from Tufts in a virtual ceremony that will be held on May 23.

Tufts is a student-centred research university committed to helping students and faculty generate bold ideas. Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian Universalists who sought to open a non-sectarian institution of higher learning.

Tufts University honorary degree recipients for the Class of 2021 will include a leader in New England’s COVID-19 response, an innovative medical researcher, a food entrepreneur renowned for his humanitarian work, a linguist dedicated to preserving America’s indigenous languages, and a Tufts alumna serving in the highest ranks of the US Army.

These include Stacey B. Gabriel, senior director of the Genomics Platform at Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Maria B. Barrett, a major general in the US Army, Hamdi Ulukaya, food entrepreneur and philanthropist. The other one is Ofelia Zepeda, a Native American linguist, scholar, and poet. Zepeda is Tohono O’odham and Regents Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, and the director of the American Indian Language Development Institute.

Bazeyo who is the former Vice-Chancellor in charge of Finance and Administration of Makerere University is currently a professor of occupational medicine at the same University and has previously served as dean of Makerere University School of Public Health.

He has led research focusing on One Health innovation initiatives across Eastern Africa and supporting African governments’ efforts to control tobacco use. His work has been funded by USAID, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

Bazeyo currently chairs several boards, including Uganda’s National Research and Innovation Fund under the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. He is a recipient of the Gold Medal, Uganda’s highest civilian honour. He will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree.