Project Team
Listed alphabetically
Dr. Kirstyn Brunker
Postdoctoral Researcher
<a href=“https://twitter.com/kirstynbrunker?lang=en-gb”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Kirstyn developes sequencing methods in low-middle income countries (<a href=“https://twitter.com/search?q=%23labinasuitcase&src=typd&lang=en-gb”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>#labinasuitcase), integrates genomic and epidemiological data to perform advanced phylodynamic analyses, and develops landscape approaches to determine the factors that drive Rabies virus transmission.
Dr. Anna Czupryna
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
<a href=“https://twitter.com/AnnaSerengeti”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Anna is currently working with the field team in Mugumu, coordinating data collection, dog vaccination, and research protocols, as well as developing training programs for village rabies coordinators.
Christian Tetteh Duamor
Afrique-ONE ASPIRE PhD Student
<a href=“https://twitter.com/duamort”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Christian’s PhD focuses on building expertise in Community-Led models for delivering and evaluating health interventions. He is currently conducting process evaluation on on-going trials in Mara Region of Tanzania, to determine effective methods of delivering community-based mass dog vaccination campaigns against Rabies.
Dr. Elaine Ferguson
Postdoctoral Research Assistant
<a href=“https://twitter.com/ElaineAFerguson”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Elaine uses Rabies incidence, dog bite and vaccinaion data to inform statistical analyses and computational models of rabies dynamics. This work seeks to assess/predict the impact of control efforts on rabies incidence across different landscapes, and to aid the design of control strategies that efficiently eliminate rabies.
Dr. Katie Hampson
Wellcome Senior Research Fellow
<a href=“https://twitter.com/hampson_katie”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Katie works on the epidemiological dynamics and control of Rabies using field data with quantitative analyses to address fundamental and applied questions. She collaborates with international organisations and governments to develop models to learn from control efforts, with a focus on disease elimination.
Renatus Herman
Project Driver
Rena has worked as a driver for the rabies team since 2011, and can navigate through any unpassable road or river. In his spare time, he is a skilled contact tracer and dog vaccinator.
Husna Hoffu
Research Officer
<a href=“https://twitter.com/husnahoffu”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Husna works under the Rabies Elimination Fellowship (REF) project at Ifkara Health Institute. This involves using mobile surveillance systems to report rabid cases and exposures. Husna works closely with Health Workers and Veterinary Officers, so as to link cases reported in the community and at health facility level.
Dr. Felix Lankester
Assistant Professor & Director of Rabies Free Tanzania
<a href=“https://twitter.com/felixjlankester”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Felix works with Washington State University and Global Animal Health Tanzania to carry research on intervention strategies, with a particular focus on efforts to bring mass dog vaccination to remote rural communities in a cost-effective manner.
Ahmed Lugelo
AO ASPIRE PhD Student
<a href=“https://twitter.com/alugelo”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Ahmed’s PhD focuses on the development of a cost-effective and sustainable strategy for regional elimination of Rabies. This involves trials to determine the the potency of thermotolerant rabies vaccine when stored in ‘Temperature Controlled Storage Devices’ (TCSD), and evaluation of the vaccination coverage achieved by various strategies.
Maganga Sambo
PhD Student
<a href=“https://twitter.com/MagangaSambo”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Maganga’s PhD focuses on measuring, monitoring and improving mass dog vaccination programmes to inform control and eliminate rabies.This involves comparing post-vaccination evaluation strategies to evaluate which methods provide precise estimates of vaccination coverage and dog population sizes.
Rachel Steenson
Research Assistant
<a href=“https://twitter.com/RachelSSteenson”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Rachel develops code pipelines to clean, process, analyse and visualise project data, in addition to fixing issues in the raw data. Rachel created this website series, and is responsible for their maintenance.
Matiko Tiringa
Project Field Officer
<a href=“https://twitter.com/matiko_tiringa”, target=“_blank”, class=“text-primary”>
Matiko is responsible for collecting data on suspect Rabies exposures (human) and cases (animal), using hospital records and contact tracing. Matiko also collects and processes tissue samples from recently deceased probable Rabid animals.
