Faculty mourns the passing on of Dr. Walter Odhiambo

Dr. Walter Odhiambo.

With great sadness, we announce the passing on of Dr. Walter Odhiambo, the immediate former Chairman of Department of Dental Sciences, University of Nairobi. He died on 23 January, 2025 at the Aga Khan University Hospital.

Dr. Odhiambo joined the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine of the University of Nairobi in 1998 as a Tutorial Fellow. He rose through the ranks to become a Senior Lecturer and served as the Department’s Chairman from 2015 to 2021, when he became the Dean of the School of Dental Sciences. He served as the Chairman of the restructured Department of Dental Sciences from 2021 to 2024.

Dr. Odhiambo’s impact at the UoN Dental School and Hospital was profound: he dedicated himself to the training of dentists and residents in oral and maxillofacial surgery and providing care to patients.

He made great efforts to improve the learning environment for students, and strengthened clinical services at the University Dental Hospital.

He was highly collegial, and appreciated the talents of the Dental School’s faculty, staff, students, alumni, and stakeholders. His vision and love for dentistry and the UoN Faculty of Health Sciences will live far into the future.

His death is a terrible loss to all of us, but we take comfort in knowing that his contributions to dental education will live on.

We shall miss him as a friend, colleague, teacher, dental surgeon, and researcher.

With heartfelt sympathy,

PROF. GEORGE OSANJO
DEAN, FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES