About Dawn Maranga

Dawn joined FIND in January 2023 as a scientific officer with the NTD program and is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

With a background in tropical medicine and biotechnology, she has worked in infectious disease research and public health. Her work has involved diagnostic development and evaluation for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) and visceral leishmaniasis (VL).

In her previous position at the Kenya Institute of Primate Research, she led the HAT program in work on early detection and acute phase biomarker discovery, feasibility assessments, field adaptation studies for diagnostic and post-curative therapeutic monitoring tools as well as oral drug formulations and efficacy testing. She has also been involved in clinical evaluations for VL diagnostic tools and the development of simple Artificial Intelligence-aided tools for the confirmatory diagnosis of VL and HAT useable at primary health care centers.

Her work has also extended to Covid-19 surveillance and the HIV response with the National AIDS control council. She currently serves in the national technical advisory groups for VL and HAT being involved in the implementation strategy for their elimination in the region.