Professional Profile

Dr Kudzai Mugweni is a consultant paediatrician with a special interest in epilepsy and neonatology. He has a passion for paediatrics and neonatology, backed by extensive experience.

His advanced training was completed at the Rosie Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the Paediatrics Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Dr Mugweni is a strong advocate for children, young individuals, and their families, and approaches his work with empathy, kindness, and professionalism; always aiming to enhance the patient experience.

Dr Mugweni successfully completed the prestigious Cambridge Chief Resident Management and Leadership Programme, and he is a prominent clinical leader devoted to improving patient outcomes.

He holds a Master’s in Clinical Research, and received the Course Director’s Prize for graduating with distinction. His post-CCT Clinical Research Fellowship was completed in Norwich.

Dr Mugweni has vast experience in Phase I-III Randomised Clinical Trials (RCTs), often contributing to the development of innovative therapies for neonatal, paediatric, and neurodevelopmental care.

He serves as the Neonatal Clinical Research Lead for the Trust; overseeing a portfolio of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) studies as Principal Investigator:

• The COMET Trial – A phase III, multi-centre clinical trial assessing the effectiveness of Cooling in Mild Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) to evaluate the outcomes of therapeutic hypothermia – currently open for recruitment.
• The BASE Study – A pragmatic open-label trial examining the routine use of sodium bicarbonate for managing metabolic acidosis in preterm neonates (<31 weeks gestation) – currently open for recruitment.
• The BEE Study – A prospective longitudinal investigation into brain development in early epilepsy, identifying neural predictors of emerging autism in infants with epilepsy – currently open for recruitment.
• The OASIS Trial – A retrospective multisite analysis of routine outpatient EEGs aimed at identifying seizure susceptibility in paediatric epilepsy through computational biomarkers – expected to open in 2025.

Recently concluded studies include AZTEC 2 (Azithromycin Therapy for CLD of Prematurity), the iGBS substudy (GBS disease protection), Feed 1 (RCT on neonatal feeding practices), and the SurfON Study (early surfactant therapy versus expectant management in late preterm and early term infants with respiratory distress).