Karl Seydel obtained his MD and PhD degrees at Washington University in St. Louis where he studied the immunopathogenesis of parasitic diseases. He subsequently completed post-graduate training at Stanford University and the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He currently is an Associate Professor at Michigan State University yet spends the majority of his time in Blantyre, Malawi where he leads the Clinical and Laboratory Malaria group at Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust. His scientific interests include the pathogenesis of cerebral malaria and the heterogeneity of disease severity upon Plasmodium infection.