Dr Brenda Kwambana-Adams
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Programme
Brenda Anna Kwambana-Adams is a Wellcome International Intermediate Fellow and Senior Lecturer (Academic Career Track) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Programme. Brenda is also an Honorary Senior Research Fellow within the Division of Infection and Immunity at University College London. Brenda’s research interests are to characterise the mechanisms that modulate transmission of the pneumococcus using cutting-edge “-omics” technologies, with the aim to guide the development of more effective control strategies. As part of her Wellcome Fellowship, Brenda is using an innovative vaccine-probe study to investigate the role of under-fives in within-household transmission of the pneumococcus to infants.
In the process of doing this, Brenda is developing tools for early, rapid, and accurate diagnosis of acute bacterial meningitis (ABM) and bacteraemia that could improve case ascertainment in resource limited settings. Brenda also works with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Regional Reference Laboratories supporting surveillance of acute bacterial meningitis across Africa. She led the WHO technical mission which investigated the 2016 pneumococcal meningitis outbreak in Brong Ahafo Region, Ghana. Brenda contributed to the development of the current WHO guidelines on controlling pneumococcal outbreaks in the African “meningitis belt” and the WHO Defeating Meningitis 2030 Global Roadmap. Brenda has won numerous awards including the first prestigious MRC-LSHTM West Africa Global Health Research Fellowship. She co-chairs the MPRU Research Development Group.
Links to selected publications:
1. Kwambana-Adams BA, Clark SA, Tay N, Agbla S, Chaguza C, et al. 2022. Evaluation of dried blood and cerebrospinal fluid filter paper spots for storing and transporting clinical material for the molecular diagnosis of invasive meningococcal disease. Int J Mol Sci 23(19):11879.
2. Franklin K, Kwambana-Adams BA, Lessa FC, Soeters HM, Cooper L, et al. 2021. Pneumococcal meningitis outbreaks in Africa, 2000-2018: Systematic literature review and meningitis surveillance database analyses. J Infect Dis 224(Supplement_3):S174-183.
3. Kwambana-Adams BA, Cohen AL, Hampton L, Nhantumbo AA, Heyderman RS, et al. 2021. Toward establishing integrated, comprehensive, and sustainable meningitis surveillance in Africa to better inform vaccination strategies. J Infect Dis 224(Supplement_3):S299-306.