Kokwaro John Ongayo was elected as an AAS Fellow in 1995. As a fellow, Kokwaro John Ongayo contributes to the development of the Academy's strategic direction through participation in AAS activities and governance structures. This gears the Academy's vision of transforming African lives through science.
Prof. Kokwaro obtained his PhD in 1969 from the University of Uppsala in Sweden. He has been a prolific writer who by 1986 had revised and published four books for the flora of East Africa. He is a retired Professor of Botany (Professor Magnificus) serving on contract terms and still spending his limited time on field research but more with post graduate students at the University of Herbaria. Prof Kokwaro has been in 2004 the Chairman of the governing council of a proposed private University, the first in Kenya to commence with both faculties of health and pure sciences. His research interests are in systematic Botany and ethnobotany (indigenous botany by the people and for the people). He has several national and international recognitions and awards and, is member of professional societies like the New York Academy of Sciences, the Linnaean Society of London. He has published ten books in systematic, economic botany, ethnobotany and over 70 scientific papers.
