Background

Katherine completed a Bachelor of Science at Monash University in 2013 with interests in Immunology and Human Pathology. She then went on to complete an honours project at the Burnet within the Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, assessing anti-malarial immunity and the spread of drug resistant P. falciparum throughout malaria endemic populations.

Katherine has since remained a member of the Fowkes Laboratory as a Research Assistant and now as a PhD Candidate at the University of Melbourne.

The focus of Katherine’s project is to determine the functional mechanisms used by antibodies to target malaria infection and to assess the spread of antimalarial drug resistance in large populations based studies.

Positions

• 2015: Research Assistant, Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The University of Melbourne

• 2014: Research Assistant, Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group, Burnet Institute

Qualifications

2014: Bachelor of Science (Hons), Monash University

Projects (6)

Current (5)

• Host and parasite factors that predict Artemisinin Resistance reservoirs
  Understanding how population immunity seeds transmission of malaria infectious reservoirs, including drug resistant parasites
• Immunity to malaria and infectious diseases during pregnancy
  How are pregnant women affected by infectious diseases such as malaria?
• Immunity, drug efficacy and spread of antimalarial drug resistance
  Identifying immune biomarkers to predict antimalarial efficacy is essential.
• Impact of declining transmission on immunity and risk of malaria rebound
  As malaria transmission falls, it is critical to understand how changing immunity affects risk of malaria.
• Serological surveillance to identify mosquito exposure and malaria transmission
  Identifying and understanding “hot spots” and “hot pops” of malaria transmission are crucial to target interventions for elimination.

Past (1)

• Effectiveness of repellent on malaria incidence in SE Myanmar
  A project to determine whether repellent delivered by volunteers will reduce malaria incidence.

Publications (1)

2019 (1)

• The contribution of functional antimalarial immunity to measures of parasite clearance in therapeutic efficacy studies of artemisinin derivatives.
  O'Flaherty K, Ataíde R, Zaloumis SG, Ashley EA, Powell R, Feng G, Reiling L, Dondorp AM, Day NP, Dhorda M, Fairhurst RM, Lim P, Amaratunga C, Pukrittayakamee S, Hien TT, Htut Y, Mayxay M, Faiz MA, Beeson JG, Nosten F, Simpson JA, White NJ, Fowkes FJI
  J Infect Dis. 2019 Aug; 220(7):1178-1187

News Articles (1)

2017 (1)

• Burnet Travel Awards