Martha Oyinduba Tongha is a highly skilled public health and laboratory scientist with over thirteen (13) years of experience in tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics, program coordination, and laboratory systems strengthening. She currently serves as the Head of the Tuberculosis Unit, Clinical Laboratory Services at the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), where she leads strategic initiatives to improve TB diagnostic capacity and quality across Nigeria.
In her role, Martha provides technical oversight for TB diagnostic programs, including GeneXpert, Truenat, TB-LAMP, LF-LAM, and advanced molecular and phenotypic testing such as Line Probe Assay (LPA) and Drug Susceptibility Testing (DST). She ensures compliance with WHO-recommended diagnostic algorithms and drives quality management systems (QMS) across TB laboratories. Her responsibilities include coordinating GeneXpert site deliverables, supporting Tuberculosis Clinical Laboratory Interface for Continuous Quality Improvement (TB CLICQI) implementation, and providing technical assistance to TB reference laboratories. She also leads quarterly stakeholder meetings, conducts annual TB scorecard assessments, and monitors external quality assurance (EQA) performance.
Martha’s academic credentials include two master’s degrees, an MSc in Medical Microbiology from Nasarawa State University and a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Institute of Public Health at Public Health U alongside a Postgraduate Diploma in Microbiology and a bachelor’s degree in biology. She is also certified in GeneXpert, TB culture, LPA, DST, IATA biospecimen shipment, and biorepository management.
Within IHVN, she has served in roles such as Senior Program Officer, Program Officer, Bio-repository and Program Officer Clinical Laboratory Services and Program Assistant.
