Fellows
Chibale Mwelwa
SANTHE Masters Fellow
Rwanda Zambia Health Research Group (RZHRG) Ndola, Zambia
Chibale Mwelwa is a laboratory scientist with an undergraduate degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Health at the University of Zambia in Lusaka.
She has worked on several public health research projects, including the “Population effects of antiretroviral therapy to reduce HIV transmission (PopART)” study and a tuberculosis (TB) prevalence and drug resistance survey. These experiences strengthened her interest in contributing to interventions that address persistent infectious disease burdens in her community.
In her current role at the Centre for Family Health Research in Zambia, she has been exposed to clinical trials and research involving functional T cell profiling and HIV genome characterisation in acutely infected individuals to support vaccine development efforts.
Her current project focuses on genome-level analysis of HIV-1, specifically investigating the occurrence and prevalence of transmissible drug resistance mutations.