This article was originally published in the October issue of 2021 by Christine Mitchelle
Professor Lukoye Atwoli rarely makes headlines for anything other than his outspoken advocacy on mental health. But away from the podiums and journals, he is a husband and father of four navigating the same joys and trials as anyone else. In an interview with Parents Magazine, he and his wife Maureen opened up about their careers, how they fell in love, raising their boys, and the cancer diagnosis that tested their marriage.
A Reluctant Introduction to Medicine
At 45, Lukoye Atwoli needs little introduction. His shock of grey hair , a family trait , has become something of a signature, and his recent appointment as Dean of the Medical College at Aga Khan University made his father, COTU-Kenya Secretary General Francis Atwoli, visibly proud.Yet those close to him describe a man whose discipline and quiet grace were shaped early. As a child growing up in his mother’s village in Ebuchero, western Kenya, he would gather other children under a tree to teach them what he had learned in school, long before his family tracked him down and enrolled him formally.
The move to Nairobi’s Eastleigh to join his father opened up a new world for the imaginative young Lukoye, who threw himself into exploring and learning. His academic promise showed early, and a bout of severe malaria in Class Seven — which landed him at Kenyatta National Hospital — planted the first seed of his medical calling. Watching doctors do their rounds around his bed, he decided then that he wanted to become one of them.
Psychiatry, however, was never the plan. Atwoli set his sights on neurosurgery, a dream he carried until an exchange programme at Indiana University’s School of Medicine. A supervisor there gently redirected him, pointing out it would take roughly two decades to qualify as a neurosurgeon, and handed him a book on psychiatry instead. It was a suggestion that ended up shaping the rest of his career.
He went on to earn his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Moi University in 2001, before specialising in psychiatry at the University of Nairobi. He completed a Master of Medicine in Psychiatry in 2006 and later a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Cape Town in 2015.
A Career on the Rise
Prof Lukoye’s career has moved steadily upward. He has held visiting positions at Harvard’s School of Public Health, and from 2014 to 2019 served as Dean of Moi University’s School of Medicine, where he admits he was deeply engaged in campus politics.
“I was part of the school’s senate and my colleagues knew if I didn’t like something, I would put my point across well,” he says.
Over the past decade, he has authored several book chapters and dozens of peer-reviewed papers, and presented at conferences around the world. He is involved in several research consortia focused on mental health in Kenya and beyond, including the Orphans and Separated Children’s Assessment Related to their health and wellbeing (OSCAR) project, the South African Stress and Health Survey (SASH), and the World Mental Health Surveys Consortium.
In October 2020, he was appointed Chairperson of the Board of Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital, the apex mental health facility in the East Africa region. He currently serves as Secretary-General of the African Association of Psychiatrists (AAP), a founding board member of, and President-Elect of, the African College of Neuropsychopharmacology (AfCNP).
His wife, Maureen Achieng, 44, keeps a far lower profile. Where her husband is a public figure, she is known for her warmth and articulate presence in more private settings — a motherly aura that, as those who meet her often note, comes through simply by sitting across from her.
Maureen was born and raised in Nairobi’s South C estate, one of five siblings in a comfortable, middle-class household. She describes an easygoing childhood spent mostly playing with friends, free of the technological distractions of today.
“Those days were so good because we spent time outside playing. There was no technology to distract us,” she says with a soft laugh.
Her childhood took a difficult turn in 1986, when she lost her mother at age six. Her father remarried and the family grew, but her stepmother later left. When her father took a new job in 1994, the family relocated to Kisumu, where, despite the upheaval, Maureen says she has some of her fondest memories and lasting friendships.
The early loss of her mother and, later, of her elder sister pushed Maureen into a caretaking role for her siblings from a young age , a responsibility she admits she resented at times, but has since made peace with and counts among her greatest sources of joy.
“Lukoye can testify that I am the one my siblings come to whenever they have issues,” she says.
She studied at Kongoni Primary School in South C, Pangani Girls High School, and went on to Egerton University to study Botany and Zoology, even though she now feels she may have thrived more in the arts.
“I went on with the course because in those days girls were encouraged to study sciences. Although I think being an artsy person, I would have done much better in areas such as sociology,” she says.
Still, she recalls enjoying her university internship, working alongside scientists, before eventually taking up a role in an audit firm in Westlands , the job she held when she met her husband.
The Girl From the Bridal Party
Ask Maureen how they met and her face lights up. The couple first crossed paths at a friend’s wedding in Nakuru in 2001 — she was part of the bride’s bridal team, he was on the groom’s side.
Interestingly, Maureen had already been introduced to a man at the same event whom she later realised was not Lukoye at all — a mix-up she never bothered to untangle at the time.
As the designated timekeeper for the wedding party, Lukoye was in charge of making sure the day ran to schedule, while Maureen coordinated the bridesmaids.
“She was my mole. She was supposed to update me on the activities from the bridal side to ensure smooth operations, such as being picked at the right time. The groom gave us each other’s numbers for ease of communication and coordination,” he says.
What began as a busy, practical exchange over the course of the wedding relaxed into an easy conversation at the reception held that evening in honour of the newlyweds.
It was only partway through their conversation that Maureen realised Lukoye’s father was the well-known trade unionist she had seen on television , she says she had heard his friends call him “Atwoli” without connecting the dots, until she finally asked if they were related.
After the wedding, Lukoye kept calling and talking to Maureen, tugging at her heartstrings, since she saw it as a huge sacrifice given how expensive and time-consuming international calls were at the time. His easy nature, closely matched to her own, won her over.
Lukoye, for his part, admits he was equally smitten, revealing with a laugh that on their very first date he had already resolved she would be the mother of his children.
“I just sat there and wondered how courageous he was. I did not take it seriously because, again, he was a man and men talk, if you know what I mean,” she says, laughing.
As the relationship progressed, Maureen introduced Lukoye to her brothers, a moment she approached anxiously, worried they wouldn’t take to him given their fondness for her previous boyfriend. To her relief, they did — as did her father, who was out of the country at the time but received a phone call from Lukoye directly.
“He told my dad on a phone call that he wanted to marry me,” she says, still sounding a little in disbelief.
Ride or Die
By 2003, roughly a year after they began living together, the couple were ready to formalise their union with a church wedding.
Sixteen years into their marriage, the two describe communication as the tool that has held them together — whenever an issue arises, they talk it through rather than let it fester. Maureen admits that in their early years she believed marriage would be smooth sailing, free of conflict.
“It doesn’t mean you can just run your mouth. I have come to learn that words are very powerful. Some of the things you say to someone because you are free with them can be very hurtful. You have to think about your words and intentions and communicate them appropriately,” she says.
The couple say they are also deliberately open with each other about finances, setting annual goals they revisit at year’s end to measure progress and decide what needs adjusting.
Maureen describes her husband as a focused, orderly man who plans each stage of his life meticulously . “If you break his plan, you break him,” she says. Lukoye, in turn, says what he treasures most in his wife is her loving, gracious and caring nature toward their family.
Maureen recalls a period when she felt neglected as Lukoye poured himself into building his career, travelling frequently and giving most of his time to work. Once he recognised the toll it was taking, he made a deliberate shift, carving out more time for the family, especially on Sundays.
“Lukoye is just my ride or die. No matter how bumpy the road gets, we always work things out,” Maureen says.
Raising Their Children
Maureen and Lukoye have four sons: Anyanje (16), Alubala (14), Yimbo (10) and Atwoli Jr. (7), who they say never miss an opportunity to engage their father in witty conversations and playful banter.
“We are very liberal with our children and will support them in the paths they choose to take with their lives. Our eldest is very passionate about football and so we have found him an academy to grow and enhance his skills,” says Lukoye.
The couple say they are intentional about their parenting approach, prioritising dialogue and paying close attention to their sons’ feelings over punitive discipline.
“We don’t spank our children. We resort to other forms of punishment such as grounding, but even before that, we focus on the cause of the problem first,” says Maureen.
Family time extends beyond their household in Nairobi. Every year, the Atwolis travel upcountry to reunite with extended family , a tradition their children have come to love and look forward to.
The Cancer Diagnosis
In 2015, while breastfeeding her last-born son, Maureen noticed a lump in her right breast. She initially dismissed it as nothing to worry about, but over the following months it grew painful and persistent, and the surrounding skin became itchy. Tests eventually confirmed breast cancer, and she underwent a mastectomy to reduce the risk of it spreading.
“During this time, my husband was my main anchor .. he was very supportive and handy. He made sure I had access to the best medication and specialists,” Maureen says.
She reveals that she had never seen her husband so shaken. Even as the two faced the diagnosis together, she could see the strain it placed on him, particularly when it came time to break the news to their children.
“It is not easy for someone to break such news to their kids. I tried my best, sat them down, and took them through what was going on step-by-step. Thankfully, they took it very positively,” he says.
Lukoye also admits it was an especially trying period for the family, with medical expenses running very high. Maureen’s health was unpredictable throughout treatment, and she would be immobile for days at a stretch following her chemotherapy sessions.
Seven years on, Maureen says her family is still processing everything that happened.
“Emotionally, I am still processing all this, and when I am ready, I will be more confident in matters such as creation of awareness. For now, I am living and enjoying my family with each passing day,” she says.
Looking Ahead
The diagnosis reshaped Maureen’s outlook and priorities. She works at the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) but has since developed a strong interest in mental health, returning to school to pursue a counselling psychology degree at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. She also holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Moi University.
“I have plans to get more involved with youth mental health in the country because I find this group so vulnerable,” says Maureen.
For Lukoye, the focus remains on his current role at Aga Khan Medical College, which he hopes to steer to greater heights. Down the line, he hopes to retire into a research institute that would allow his mentees and other medical professionals to conduct high-level research in Kenya.
“As far as medicine is concerned, I would like to leave behind a chain of people I have mentored. In matters of mental health, I am going to bother many people in health and education because these three are connected. And when I go out, I will not do so in a whimper, I will go all out like a nuclear bomb,” he concludes.
This article was originally published in the October issue of 2021 by Christine Mitchelle
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