Kariuki served for seven years as director of the
Institute of Primate Research and the
National Museums of Kenya, a biomedical research and
conservation biology centre. His research includes the study of
infectious diseases, and enabling the development of
vaccines, diagnostics, drugs for diseases that affect areas of poverty such as investigating the influence of parasitic/
worm infections on vaccination outcomes. His early research work started on bovine immunology at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) which is a CGIAR Nairobi based centre where he was inducted and mentored into immunology by Prof Cynthia Baldwin, who is currently based at UMass, Amherst. He also conducted joint work at IPR and was as a research associate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, with their global health team led and mentored by Chris King, focused on the vaccines and diagnostic development for
schistosomiasis (
Bilharzia),
malaria and co-infections. In 2017 the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine awarded Kariuki an
honorary professorship in recognition of his past and present collaborations with the school, and his efforts to "accelerate world-class research, foster innovation and promote scientific leadership in Africa". Over the years he has collaborated with teams at LSTM, where he has worked with David Molyneux researching
neglected tropical diseases, with Imelda Bates who leads the LSTM Capacity Development Unit for the ongoing DELTAS Africa Learning Research Programme; and on the advisory board with the LSTM team led by Rob Harrison working on NTD Snakebite Venom. In January 2015, Kariuki was appointed to lead the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), originally established by the African Academy of Sciences and the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD). In his role as Director of Programmes at Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), Kariuki advocated and created awareness about the importance of science in addressing Africa's health and development challenges, particularly, the rise of infectious and
non-communicable diseases in Africa such as
cancer,
strokes,
diabetes and
cardiovascular disease. In January 2022, Kariuki was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Science for Africa Foundation (SFA Foundation), a non-profit, pan-African and charitable organisation. He is leading a team that designs and funds programmes, builds networks and partnerships to harness science and innovation to tackle major societal challenges in Africa. The SFA Foundation is implementing 10 programmes and 21 initiatives that include the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science (DELTAS Africa) supported by Wellcome and the United Kingdom
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO formerly DFID) to amplify Africa-led development of world-class research and scientific leaders on the continent, while strengthening African institutions. The Grand Challenges Africa (GC Africa) is another programme implemented by the SFA Foundation. GC Africa seeks to promote Africa-led scientific innovations to help countries better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by awarding seed and scale-up grants to the continent’s most impressive solutions. GC Africa supports big, bold impactful innovative ideas that have a potential for impact, scale and sustainability. Kariuki sits on the advisory board for the World Health Organization (WHO) technical groups, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), LSTM Advisory Board for NTD/Envenoming Group and the Gates Open Research, a platform for publication and open peer review of research funded by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He provides his expertise to shape global programmes and strategies for promoting health and science. He has previously held the position of President of the Federation of African Immunological Societies and served on the Education Committee of the
International Union of Immunological Societies. He is also the founder board member of the African Research Network for NTDs (ARNTD). Kariuki has spoken at the Women Leaders in Global Health (2020), the
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (2017 and 2019), the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting (2015-2020), the
World Health Summit (Innovation for Impact Panel Discussion, 2018) and the Next Einstein Forum (Learning to lead: what capacities do scientists and researchers of tomorrow need, 2018). == Awards and honours ==