Alphaxard Manjurano is a Malaria Parasitologist at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in Tanzania, specialized in Infectious and vector borne diseases, with a strong focus on surveillance, diagnostics, monitoring, diseases control and elimination. He is a Principal Research Scientist at NIMR. He is currently the Head of Laboratory Sciences Unit and, Malaria and Vector borne-research Unit at NIMR, Mwanza Centre, Tanzania.
He joined Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in 2003 under Joint Malaria Programme and worked as a Research Assistant, thereafter he was awarded VLIR scholarship to study Interuniversity Programme Molecular Biology in Belgium (2004-2006), subsequently converting to PhD student under Prof Chris Drakeley in the Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London completed in 2010. His work investigated the Genetic polymorphisms and malaria in the Northeastern Tanzania and involved field work, laboratory work and genetic epidemiology analysis. Following completion of his PhD, he took a post-doctoral position at the University of Oxford under MalariaGEN (in the laboratory of Human Genetics led by Prof Dominic Kwiatkowski), thereafter continued this work at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College and Centre for Medical Parasitology, Copenhagen under the mentorship of Prof. Chris Drakeley, Prof. Franklin Mosha and Prof Thor Theander. He moved to the National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania in 2012 where he was appointed as a Principal Research Scientist. Alphaxard has a strong track record working with different research partners on malaria diagnostics, immunology, Vector borne diseases surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, Vector control tools evaluation and Infectious diseases. He has networked with Malaria and Infectious diseases scientists across several countries through over 20 years working with National and International Research Institutions and Universities, Ministries of Health, disease control programmes, academia and non-government organizations conducting research, teaching, consultation, planning, advising, implementing and monitoring national malaria control programs in Tanzania and Africa.
He is currently involved in clinical trial of evaluating efficacy of next generation nets on malaria vector controls and the potential future role of gene drive in combating malaria (example of projects involved; RAFT, PAMVERC, TRANSMISSION ZERO, ESSENTIALS, IVCC, PMI-USAID Entomological Surveillance, ROYAL SOCIETY etc). He has led projects on monitoring and evaluation of Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) in Lake Victoria regions in Tanzania to support National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) on malaria vector control strategies. He is the coordinator of the Pan-African Vector Research Consortium (PAMVERC) at NIMR Mwanza, Tanzania. He has broad experience in working with LLINs, IRS and entomological monitoring including insecticide resistance testing for controlling and managing resistant vectors. He is supervising and mentoring postgraduate students. Among his key research achievements include building a strong malaria research team at NIMR Mwanza Centre and linking this to key research partners and collaborators globally. Research output resulting from the collaboration have contributed significantly to the understanding of the epidemiology and control strategies for malaria and Vector-borne diseases in Tanzania and Sub-Saharan region. He is currently working on Resilience Against Future Threats (RAFT) and Transmission Zero Projects. Alphaxard has published more than 80 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals.