Isabella Oyier's research career began with research questions. How has the malaria parasite mutated again? How does this change affect what the parasite can do?

Her work has made her a leader in malaria molecular epidemiology. Now, she is using her molecular biology background to have an impact on public health.

Isabella, together with the country's Division of National Malaria Programme (DNMP), is building Kenya's first national malaria molecular surveillance platform to track the emergence of malaria parasite strains that are resistant to drugs or able to escape detection from routine rapid diagnostic tests. The platform will be integrated into the DNMP so the data can be translated into effective, evidence-based malaria control policies.

"It's humbling as well as exciting because now, after years of focused research in Kilifi, I can give back and extend this research to a national level," said Isabella.

Isabella's scope of work is the biggest ever for a malaria-focused project in Kenya. It includes 14 counties, and Isabella's team will work with three to six health facilities in each, as opposed to the current approach of up to five health facilities across one or two counties.

Isabella's turn toward having an impact on public health was a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was just three months into her new job as the head of bioscience at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya when the pandemic began. She was charged with conducting diagnostic tests on the entire coastal region of about 3 million people. She built relationships with people in the health ministry and saw how her explanations about the latest variants led to policy decisions. The experience convinced her she could do the same for malaria - a much older disease that continues to kill more people than COVID did during the pandemic in Africa.

The project's scale was initially daunting to Isabella, but those early nerves disappeared once she started explaining the project to staff at the health facilities.

"They understand the importance of it right away. They respond saying, 'this has been a long time coming,'" said Isabella. "That gives me more energy to keep going."