Profile of a CLI alum: Isaac Kaba

Isaac Kaba is a CLI alum of both CLI’s 2013 Leadership Workshop and our 2017 Leadership Institute. He attended high school at CS Saint Adrien in Kinshasa and is presently part of the Pharmacy Honors program at the University of Toledo’s Jesup Scott Honors College (JSHC). As a JSHC student, Isaac has access to enhanced opportunities for research, an Honors learning community, cultural events, professional development, and civic engagement. 

Isaac is the second of his parents' children. Growing up in a family of six boys and two girls, Isaac spent four years in the undergraduate program at the University of Kinshasa where he succeeded academically with performance near the top of the class.

Isaac also participated in school leadership activities, including as General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Pharmaceutical Scientific Circle beginning in 2018. He devoted his time to mentoring younger students and organizing scientific events with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Kinshasa. With online learning poorly developed in the DRC, Isaac co-organized and hosted several webinars in 2020 to ensure that the pharmaceutical and medical community all over the country and beyond remained scientifically active during the COVID-19 lockdown.

He also showed extreme passion and huge interest in research and he has actively participated in multiple research projects. He was the co-author of a scientific paper on the potential of Congolese medicinal plants as well as a book chapter on COVID-19 that is presently under submission.

Isaac has this to say about his CLI experience:

“Attending CLI was a great and enhanced experience for me. I learned and practiced leadership, personal development, as well as entrepreneurship skills. I have been more inspired, transmitted, and challenged to be the best leader possible. As a result, I was able to know myself better, influence others, overcome invisibility syndrome, and keep a view in serving humanity and maintaining my commitment to Congolese society.”