Ian Clarke, MBChB BAO, DTM&H, MSc, is a physician, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and politician in Uganda. He is the current Mayor of Makindye Division, one of the five administrative units of Kampala but will finish his term in April 2016. He is the Chairman of the Ugandan Healthcare Federation and East Africa Healthcare Federation.
He came to Uganda in 1987 and set up Kiwoko Mission Hospital, in 1996 he set up International Medical Centre which has since grown to the organization International Medical Group (IMG), the largest private healthcare organization in Uganda, encompassing a one hundred bed hospital, Medical Insurance Company, a non-profit foundation and a network of primary care clinics. Dr. Clarke also owns Clarke Group which has interests in education (International Health Science University, and Clarke Junior school), hospitality (Vineyard restaurant in Kampala, Seasons Lodge hotel in Zanzibar) and agribusiness (trees, coffee, maize, goats, and egg production).
Dr. Clarke has authored three books – ‘The Man with the Key has gone’, ‘How Deep is this Pothole’, and ‘Smart Culture Guide to Uganda’. He writes a weekly article on social and political topics for the New Vision Newspaper, one of two main national newspapers in Uganda.
Dr. Clarke was born in Northern Ireland and obtained his medical degree at Queens University Belfast. He worked in family practice in Northern Ireland and studied tropical medicine at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He then carried out a Masters degree in Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.