Dr Khuzwayo Jere leads the Virology Research Group at the Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW). He is an International Wellcome Training Fellow, a Lecturer in the Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences in the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences and Health Professionals at the College of Medicine (COM), University of Malawi; an Honorary Research Fellow at the Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool; and a Research Affiliate at the Institute of Immunity, Infection & Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow. He is also the co-founder and co-Principal Investigator of the African Enteric Viruses Genome Initiative (AEVGI).
Dr Jere pursued a BSc. Degree at the University of Malawi, then obtained BSc. (Med) (Hons) and MSc. (Med) degrees in Medical Virology at the Medical University of Southern Africa, Medunsa (now Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), and a PhD in Biochemistry at North-West University in South Africa. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Liverpool for four years. Prior to this, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Research Officer at the Diarrhoeal Pathogens Research Unit at Medunsa in Pretoria, South Africa, which is a WHO Reference Laboratory for Rotavirus research in Southern Africa. Dr Jere has published several peer-reviewed articles in international journals (ORCID iD:0000-0003-3376-8529) and has supervised a couple of postgraduate students who have graduated with BSc (Med) (Hons) and PhD degrees. Dr Jere’s current work focuses on understanding the epidemiology, immunology, evolution and the disease burden of viral pathogens. He aspires to be a global leader in virology.