MCDC and College of Medicine, Malawi: My Story

Wilson Mandala PhDAssociate Director, Malawi-Liverpool Wellcome Trust,

Senior Lecturer, College of Medicine

My Academic Journey

Kamuzu Academy1985 - 1991

Chancellor College1991 - 1994

King’s College London1996 - 1997

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 2004 - 2007

My Work Experience

Tea BiochemistTRF (1995 – 1998)

Soil ChemistARET (1998 – 2004)

Lecturer & ManagerCoM (2008 – to date)

MLW1. Research Fellow (2004 – 2007)2. Associate Director (2014 - 2018

How I benefitted from Gates Malaria Partnership

PhD Programme

• Registration: University of Liverpool (2004 – 2007)

• Study Area: Malaria Immunology

• Spinoff benefits: Other grants

1. MCDC Initiative Award: Tregs in malaria (2010 – 2012)

2. HRCSI Award: CTX prophylaxis effect (2011 – 2013)

3. NIH Grant: Malaria – NTS association (2015 – 2018)

Supervision:Four PhD fellows: One graduated, Two writing up, one just started

Publications from the PhD Study

Already Published

1. Lymphocyte reference ranges – JACI 2010

2. Three Country Reference ranges – JACI 2014

Submitted/ under review

3. Malaria phenotype paper – JID4. Monocytes in malaria – Parasite

Immunol 5. Cytokines in Malaria – PLoS One6. Lymphocytes in pregnancy –

EJOGRB7. Malawian haematological reference

ranges – PLoS One

How I have benefited from MCDC

Research Development

Offered me Initiative Grant Award (2010-12)

Study Area: Regulatory T cells in MalariaStatus: Completed, data analysed

Publications:

One accepted JPIDs

Career Progression

1. MCDC Country Coordinator2. Funded my Personal

Development Plan3. Facilitated my mentorship

programme

My Involvement in Wellcome Trust Initiatives

MCDC CARTA

SACOREHRCSI

Director CoM Research

Support Centre

MCDC Coordinator

CARTA Focal Person

Grant Administrator

CoM Institutional Grant Recipient

MCDC’s contribution at College of Medicine

1. Establishing PhD programme2. Training of PhD supervisors3. Conducted Baseline Needs

Assessment4. Established a mentorship

programme5. Provided an online PG

monitoring system

6. Furnishing of 24 seater PhD Room7. Enhancing research work in Malaria8. Co-fund IT services at CoM9. Support Research Support Centre10. Provision of postdoctoral research

awards

MCDC & the PhD Programme at CoM

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

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Acknowledgements

GMP/MCDC

Prof. B. GreenwoodProf. D. SchellenbergDr. A. BhasinDr. H. Mccullough

Supervisors/Mentors

Prof. C. MacLennanProf. S. WardProf. R. S. Heyderman

Additional Slides if Needed

Weaknesses of MCDC

1. Limited funds2. Limited South-South Networking3. Hhigh Staff turn-over

Blantyre-Malaria-Project

MLW

Malaria Theme

BMP

Malawi-Liverpool-

Wellcome Trust

Malaria Alert Centre

MAC

CoM MCDC Malaria Research (DELTAS)

PI

How MCDC fits in CoM Future Plans

Three Postdoctoral Fellows

Six PhD Fellows

Eight MSc Fellows

ICEMR

International Centers of Excellence in Malaria Research