Prior to starting as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, I completed my PhD at LSTM through the MRC Doctoral Training Partnership programme. My PhD focused on applying methods from the field of spatial epidemiology to assist human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) elimination by by producing geospatial estimates of tsetse fly abundance and access to sleeping sickness diagnostics to inform vector control and disease screening. Before joining the MRC DTP, I worked within the Spatial Ecology and Epidemiology Group (SEEG) at the University of Oxford (2014-2017). My roles involved collating spatial data detailing a range of disease and vector indicators and applying geospatial methods to estimate key health metrics such as under-5 mortality (The Lancet), snakebite (The Lancet), child growth failure (Nature) and yellow fever (The Lancet Global Health & The Lancet Infectious Disease), among others.
My role as a Postdoctoral Research Associate involves leading a work package as a research co-investigator on a £1.2m NERC funded grant investigating Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV) risk within Northern Tanzania (NERC: NE/W003333/1). Specifically, I use geostatistical methods to inform the sampling and analysis of vector occurrence and abundance data within Northern Tanzania, contributing toward the characterisation of disease risk during inter-epizootic periods. My collaborations during this position include the University of Glasgow and the Vector and Vector-borne Diseases Institute, Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency.
I have received SEDA accreditation and currently teach on modules TROP719 (Parasite Epidemiology & Control) and TROP741 (Vector Population Biology & Control) of LSTMs MSc programme in Tropical Disease Biology.