Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases Student Profile

Selasi Dankwa
PhD student, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Selasi has been fascinated by infectious diseases since her childhood in Ghana, where these conditions are part of everyday life. She came to the United States for her undergraduate studies and became interested in basic science research as a way to contribute to the understanding of diseases with major public health importance. After college, she worked for two years as a research assistant in a tuberculosis
lab at Boston Children’s Hospital.

At HSPH, Selasi is studying the malaria parasite in the lab of Associate Professor Manoj Duraisingh, which concentrates on understanding how the parasite invades red blood cells. She describes her lab colleagues as hardworking, motivated by global health needs, helpful, and fun. Her research was furthered by a Harvard Global Health Institute award for extended malaria study in Senegal.

Selasi plans to return to Ghana and pursue a career at the confluence of basic science research and public health, combining work in the lab with field studies of the malaria parasite and the epidemiology of the disease.

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*Video Interview Under Construction*