Prof. Kayitesi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Consumer and Food Sciences; Faculty of natural and Agricultural sciences (University of Pretoria, South Africa).  Prof. Kayitesi has published more than 70 peer-reviewed international journal articles and book chapters and presented her research findings in reputable international conferences. She undertakes fundamental and applied research relating to improved utilisation of indigenous, underutilized African plant foods with the goal of attaining nutrition and food security for all in Africa.   Her work has highlighted the importance of using readily available and affordable food crops to create food products with improved nutritional, functional and sensory quality. Prof Kayitesi’s research contributes to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2 (Zero hunger) and 3 (Good health and wellbeing), through contribution to diet diversity by developing unique products from underutilized food sources as well as the improvement of the nutritional composition and health promoting constituents of food.  Key research findings from her team demonstrated how use of cereals and legumes to produce composite food products may be potential tool to address the obstinate problem of Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM).  She leads a research team which consists of Postgraduate Students and Post-Doctoral Research Fellows.  In this regard, Prof Kayitesi has successfully hosted 6 postdoctoral fellows and supervised 6 PhD students and 12 masters’ students to completion.

Prof. Kayitesi has earned several awards in recognition of her contributions to science, notably she was recently among seven (7) women scientists from the Global South that received the 2023 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for their scientific research contribution to Food Security. Prof. Kayitesi was also awarded the 2022 Rwanda Women in Science Award (research category) by the National Council for Science and Technology (NCST-Rwanda) and the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (Rwanda). She serves as member of The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Advisory Committee on COVID-19 and is a Fellow of the Pan-African Scientific Research Council (PASRC).  Prof. Kayitesi is a Guest Editor for Frontiers in Food Science and Technology (Special issue-Recent Advances and Future Prospects in Fermented Food Biotechnology). She currently serve as an advisory Board member for the Africa Organisation of Technology in Agriculture (AOTA). And a Board member for the Health Equity and rights organization (HERO) a non-government and nor-profit organization based in Rwanda.