Kennedy Nyamande was born in the city of Gweru, in Zimbabwe. He studied for his undergraduate medical degree at the University of Zimbabwe and subsequently served his internship in 1990 and 1991 at the Harare and Parirenyatwa group of hospitals. He relocated to South Africa at the end of his internship, and worked in the Eastern Cape province in 1992 and 1993 at Nompumelelo hospital, rural Peddie. During that time he studied for his MRCP Part I which he passed while working as a District Medical Officer in Peddie. He then joined the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Natal, in January 1994 as a Registrar and passed his FCP (SA) examinations in October 1996. He then worked as a senior registrar while completing his training time in internal medicine. Upon completion, he then joined the Department of Pulmonology in January 1998 under the mentorship of Prof UG Lalloo. He wrote and passed his Certificate Pulmonology examinations in October 1999, qualifying as a Pulmonologist. In 2001, he registered for his PhD with the University of Natal, completing the degree in 2004 and graduating April 2005. He has been involved in teaching and training of both undergraduates and post graduates since 1998. He deputized Prof Lalloo in the Department of pulmonology for years and was acting Head of Internal Medicine for two years in 2012 and 2013.
He has been involved in both undergraduate and post graduate curriculum development as well as research. In addition, he is very active in the teaching and training of medical students on the Cuba -South Africa Collaboration programme. He briefly left the employment of the University of KwaZulu Natal between 2014 and 2017, rejoining in 2018 as HOD, Pulmonology. Throughout his academic and service career, he has shown great interest in HIV medicine in general and pulmonary complications in particular as well as community acquired pneumonia. He is currently involved in the following research projects:
- COVID 19 surveillance
- COVID 19 mechanisms
- Asthma control and barriers to control
- Extra pulmonary pleural tuberculosis
- MLCCP lung cancer project
- Lung function sequelae of COVID 19
Obstructive Sleep Apnoea diagnostics