Affiliateship: 2021-2025
Cohort 6
Country (Nationality)
Senegal
Discipline
Biosciences
Bio
Dr. Amy Kristine Bei is an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Public Health and leads a G4 research group at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar on Malaria Experimental Genetic Approaches and Vaccines. She received her BA in Biochemistry, served as a Fulbright Fellow in Tanzania, received her PhD in Biological Sciences in Public Health, and pursued her postdoctoral research through the Harvard Malaria Initiative based at University Cheikh Anta Diop and Hôpital Aristide Le Dantec in Dakar, Senegal. Her research has been focused on tropical diseases of public health importance, with a strong emphasis on malaria, for the last two decades. Dr. Bei's research interests in Plasmodium – the causative agent of malaria - lie at the intersection between genetics, genomics, epidemiology, and immunology. Her scientific contributions span malaria transmission, drug resistance, mechanisms of invasion and pathogenesis, and immunity – including understanding the mechanisms by which the malaria parasite evades natural or vaccine-induced immune responses. Throughout her career she has sought to understand the underlying mechanisms of the malaria parasite’s virulence while ensuring that such findings translate into knowledge that can influence prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Dr. Bei is passionate about training and mentoring the next generation of African scientist leaders – specifically in genomics applied to vaccinology. Her dream is for African scientists to lead the way in the discovery, production, testing, and implementation of a highly effective vaccine for malaria.