Joyce Nyiro (BSc, MSc)

I am currently working as a Research Officer at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi, Kenya within the Virus Epidemiology and Control Group. I joined the group in 2011 after attaining a Master of Science degree in Epidemiology from Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases-Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (ITROMID-JKUAT) and a Certificate in Clinical Research Training from University of California San Francisco.

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and I therefore take lead in both laboratory and field studies. I have research interests in prevention and control of infectious diseases in children and infants, maternal immunization, viral respiratory infections, Respiratory Syncytial Virus, epidemiological surveys and immune assays. In the last 4 years my research has focused on quantifying maternally derived protective immunity correlates for RSV. This project provided useful baseline data for consideration as clinical trials for vaccine boosting of maternal RSV-specific antibodies to protect young infants and postpone the first natural RSV infection are in progress. “I will be very happy to see the mortality of infants due to preventable diseases such as viral pneumonia significantly reduced by identification of alternative control strategies”. This is one of the objectives I’m exploring in a study to investigate pathways of transmission of respiratory viruses within Kilifi County which began in December 2015 and will end in December 2017.