Jacob Kwaga is a professor of veterinary public health & preventive medicine. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and a Master of Science degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria. He obtained a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. He further carried out a two-year stint as a postdoctoral fellow at the same university, with the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO). Professor Kwaga is a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Sciences and College of Veterinary Surgeons of Nigeria. Presently, he is the head of Veterinary Public Health Specialty of the College.

He is also Dean of the faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.  Previously, he served in various capacities:  Head of Department of Veterinary Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Pioneer Coordinator of the  Centre for Biotechnology Research and Training, and chair /member on several committees at the University. He also served as Pioneer Deputy Vice Chancellor and later Vice Chancellor of Adamawa State University, Mubi in north eastern Nigeria.

Professor Kwaga has supervised, mentored, and graduated over 50 PhD and MSc students, and presently supervises many others. He has published over 120 articles in peer-reviewed journals, with about half of them being international, several proceedings and conference papers, and a book titled Introduction to Molecular Genetics.  His areas of research include food safety, zoonoses, and molecular epidemiology of infectious diseases.