Abebe fola, phd
postdoctoral fellow | Purdue University | department of biological sciences | carpi lab |
915 W. State Street | West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907
BSc in Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia, 2006
MSc in Medical Parasitology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia, 2010
PhD in Infectious Diseases Genetics and Genomics, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Australia, 2019
I was born in a small rural community in southern Ethiopia, where malaria is endemic. There was a major malaria epidemic when I was in high school, which killed many people in my community. The tragic loss of life inspired me to join undergraduate study in medical laboratory sciences, to know more about infection diseases, their diagnoses, and preventions. Then I joined a master’s program in medical parasitology to find solutions to prevent malaria. After completing a Master of Science degree, I worked as a lecturer and researcher at University of Gonder, Ethiopia, published more than 25 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and provided free community services – teaching communities and schools about infection prevention. Then I wanted to further develop my malaria research skills, and I was captivated by a PhD project offered by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute malaria researcher Associate Professor Alyssa Barry – the genomic epidemiology of malaria parasites and developing ‘barcode’ to track P. vivax infections at high resolution. After gaining my PhD, I continued to fight against malaria and am now working as a Postdoc in Dr. Carpi’s Lab - combining genetics, genomics and epidemiological information to better understand malaria transmission dynamics to guide malaria elimination efforts in Africa. I have also a strong desire to develop robust genetic markers, data analysis and visualization tools to integrate the population genomic approach with malaria surveillance systems to analyze the data in a timely fashion and interpret the results without difficulties. After work hours, you can find me at kids’ playground with my daughter, watching and playing soccer, watching scientific movies, learning new cultures and different societal beliefs and reading books.
