The Founder
Christina Gaisie
From Diagnosis to Purpose
In July 2025, after multiple hospital visits, Christina was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease — a rare condition affecting blood flow to the brain.
Today she leads ANNI with a mission to transform neurological care across Africa.
"Your story is not over. Your dreams are still valid."— Christina Gaisie
Section 5 · Founder's Story
From a doctoral journey
to a continental mission.
The years before
For years, I poured my energy into work and study. I was pursuing my doctoral degree in business and data analytics, researching how better systems and practices can improve people's lives. I had my timelines, my chapters, my milestones, and my dreams carefully planned. What I did not know was that, silently, a rare cerebrovascular condition was progressing in my brain.
The diagnosis — July 2025
In July 2025, after a series of worrying symptoms and multiple hospital visits, I was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease. The doctors explained that a major artery supplying my brain had become severely narrowed and, in one segment, completely blocked. My brain was surviving because tiny collateral vessels had formed to keep blood flowing.
The interruption
The diagnosis shook everything. It was not just a health shock; it was a life interruption. I had to pause my doctoral work, slow down my pace, and reconsider my priorities. Instead of focusing on deadlines and dissertation chapters, I was suddenly focusing on MRIs, angiograms, risk scores, and treatment options. My planner changed from "submit draft" to "follow up with neurologist."
The path forward
After many consultations, my doctors and I agreed on conservative management: medication to reduce my risks, regular monitoring, and a serious commitment to lifestyle changes — managing stress, improving diet, exercising wisely, and guarding my sleep. By God's grace and with good medical care, I am now stable. I adjusted my doctoral timelines, but I did not abandon my dreams. Instead, my experience reshaped my purpose.
The clarity
If my academic journey could be paused overnight by a hidden disease, then there are countless students, professionals, and parents whose stories are being quietly rewritten by neurological conditions with no support and no voice. Out of that disruption came clarity. I understood that my doctorate and my diagnosis were not competing stories; they were connected.
My training in research, systems, and data could serve a new mission: to improve neuro health in Africa and to make sure people like me are seen, heard, and helped.
The birth of ANNI
That is why I founded the Africa NeuroCare & NeuroResearch Initiative (ANNI). ANNI is how I turn my pause into a platform, and my survival into service. Through ANNI, I want every person in Africa facing a brain or nerve condition to have three things I am passionate about.
Three Things She Is Passionate About
Awareness. Access. Hope.
Through ANNI, every person in Africa facing a brain or nerve condition deserves these three things.
Awareness
"To know what is happening and what to look out for."
Access
"To reach appropriate care as early and affordably as possible."
Hope
"To believe that a diagnosis is not the end, but the beginning of a new way of living."