Mukhisa was appointed as UNCTAD's seventh secretary general in September 2013. He was reappointed in 2017 after serving a four-year term.
Dr Mukhisa has a long history as an academic and a high-ranking government official.
In 1956, he was born in the Bungoma District in Western Kenya. At the University of Nairobi and Makerere University, he studied political science and international relations, respectively. In 1982, he received his Bachelor's degree. He received his Master's degree in 1986 and his PhD in 1989 from the University of Bergen in Norway.