Dr. Henrietta Mensah-Brown holds a Bachelor’s degree from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, a Masters’ in Biochemistry and a PhD in molecular biology of infectious diseases from the University of Ghana.
Her research areas are malaria biology and immunology, focusing on the pathogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children. One aspect of her work is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms used by Plasmodium falciparum for invasion of red blood cells. Another aspect is focused on investigating immune responses to proteins used in red cell invasion and the targets of invasion inhibitory antibodies.
As a TIBA out of Africa postdoctoral fellow, her work focused on Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP-1) which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of severe malaria. Dr. Mensah-Brown is currently an APTI (African Postdoctoral Intiative) fellow at the National Institutes of Health, where she is continuing research to understand severe malaria pathogenesis in children.
