Citation for Denis Mukengere Mukwege, MD

Denis Mukengere Mukwege, MD, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a Nobel laureate and medical director of Panzi Hospital, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Professor Mukwege and Nadia Murad, co-presidents of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, were the 2018 recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize for their work to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of armed conflict.

Professor Mukwege has received numerous honors for his surgical contributions and humanitarian efforts, including the Penn Nursing Renfield Foundation Award for Global Women’s Health, The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament, and the Clinton Global Citizen Award. He has extensive experience managing severe injuries of women who have been tortured and/or raped.

Professor Mukwege has been a strong advocate for women, which is reflected in his writing in 22 published peer-reviewed articles. He is the namesake of the International Mukwege Chair on Violence Against Women and Girls in Conflict at the University of Liège, Belgium. He is the coauthor of Panzi, written with Guy-Bernard Cadière, MD, PhD, and published in 2014.

Since 1991, he has been a professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the Evangelical University of Africa in the Congo. Among the additional positions Professor Mukwege holds are president of the Global Survivors Fund, Switzerland, and rapporteur in the office of the World Health Organization, Switzerland.

He received his general medical education and training in Burundi from the Faculty of Medicine in Bujumbura, followed by obstetrical and gynecological studies in France at the Faculty of Specialized Medicine in Angers. He completed advanced medical training at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.