Dr. Chukwuemeka Nkere is the WAVE Nigeria South East Country Director. He is a Research Scientist – Molecular Plant Virologist – at National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike, with over 10 years of working experience on root and tuber crops. Presently, he heads the Plant Protection Division and the Molecular Biology /Diagnostic Unit at NRCRI.…Dr. Nkere worked for 3 years (2012-2015) as a Research Fellow with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA-Ibadan) on yam virus diagnostics under the “YIIFSWA” project. He has experience working on tissue culture/micropropagation of root and tuber crops, yam and cassava virus diseases geo-reference surveys and development of novel diagnostics. As WAVE Nigeria South East Country Director, he coordinates all WAVE activities in the NRCRI Hub covering the South-East (SE) and South-South (SS) of Nigeria which includes geo-reference surveys, diagnostics, human and infrastructure development.