Regis (Mwaka) Chirenga is a fellow with the Center for Health and Human Rights at the O’Neill Institute. He primarily conducts research with the Global Center for Legal Innovation on Food Environments, focusing on building legal and policy infrastructure to regulate ultra-processed foods, including in African countries, to address diet-related noncommunicable diseases.
Chirenga also conducts research on global health security and legal preparedness for pandemics with the Center for Transformational Health Law, as well as legal and policy research across the HIV continuum of care with the Center for HIV and Infectious Disease Policy. He also supports the legal sub-group of the Nature Medicine Commission on quality health information, collaborating with global health scholars on addressing health misinformation and improve information integrity.
Prior to these roles, Chirenga was a legal intern with the Center on Addiction and Public Policy, where he conducted legal and policy work including preliminary research on a state model law to address substance use disorder workforce challenges in the United States. During his LL.M studies, Chirenga was the Georgetown University O’Neill Institute Health Law Professional (HELP) Fellow at Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB & Malaria, where he supported strategic advocacy for U.S. fiscal leadership in the Global Fund and supported production of issue briefs on global health transition challenges in the Global South. Previously, Chirenga practiced family, corporate, and commercial law in Zimbabwe with Paddington and Associates Legal Practitioners and has interned with similar law firms.
Since 2021, Chirenga has volunteered with Do It for The Kids in Harare and Masvingo (Zimbabwe), partnering with local donors and communities to support children in orphanages and children’s homes.
Chirenga holds an LL.B. (Hons) from Great Zimbabwe University and an LL.M. with distinction in National and Global Health Law from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a recipient of the Global Health Law Scholarship