Greetings from Macha!
Today our team had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Jenny Stevenson, scientific director and medical entomologist at MRT, and Dr. Phil Thuma, the founding director of the MRT. Jenny runs numerous entomological studies that assess novel malaria control tools in their semi-field systems. Phil grew up in rural Zambia. He is a Hopkins-trained pediatrician who became a senior scientist at the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health, and has worked at the Macha Mission Hospital since the 70s.
The cotton balls are soaked in sugar for the mosquitoes to eat. Was ~toasty~ in there.
We had a chance to take a tour of the research grounds–the basic science labs, clinical lab, insectaries, and their semi-field systems.
We also shadowed experts in molecular analyses for malaria epidemiology and entomology; in entomological studies, field work, and non-molecular work; and in malaria case reporting, GIS studies, data management, and logger studies today :).
Everyone here has been lovely, sharing their wealth of knowledge on the multiple facets of malaria surveillance and control. We are very grateful, and excited to see what we learn this week!
Stay tuned…
ByteSight 
Have been enjoying reading your blogs and seeing your pictures. Such an amazing adventure!
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