Neuroinfectious Disease - Current Fellows and Alumni

Current Fellow

Post-Doctoral Clinical Research Fellow (2020-2021)

Dr. Mashina Chomba is a Neurologist at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. As one of Zambia’s first-ever neurologists, he has been part of research efforts aimed at understanding neurological disease in that country. He has carried out research in areas such as neurosyphilis, HIV, and stroke. He is also very passionate about improving service delivery to people living with neurological diseases in his country and region. He is currently developing a study to characterize the etiologies and risk factors of encephalitis in Zambia.

Former Fellow

Post-Doctoral Clinical Research Fellow (2019-2020)

Dr. Vivian Namale Ssonko is a clinical instructor and lecturer at Kampala International University in the Department of Pediatrics, and pediatrician at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital (Jinja, Uganda). She has participated in research in Uganda focusing on HIV, Tuberculosis and Onchocerciasis and has key interests in pediatric neuroinfectious diseases. She was a Fogarty scholar from 2015-2017 at the Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University, Uganda. She is currently working on developing a study she will lead when she returns to Uganda on the current etiologies, antimicrobial resistance patterns, and factors contributing to the ongoing high prevalence of pediatric community acquired bacterial meningitis in Uganda in the post-vaccine era.