Infection St Andrews

The infection group at the University of St Andrews is under the leadership of Prof Matt Holden working to solve infection problems

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

University of St Andrews medical students made us proud in Tanzania 🇹🇿

What does leadership in global health look like? For Ishani, Leen and Orla, it began with a question and grew through listening, learning and collaboration.

One afternoon during the Winter term of 2025, these three medical students walked into my office, excited to have been awarded scholarships through the Laidlaw Scholars Leadership and Research Programme. They were determined to travel to Africa to learn and practise their leadership skills. They asked, where can we go in Africa? I responded, have you ever been to Africa? Orla, from England, had visited Kenya on safari. Ishani, from India, and Leen, from the United Arab Emirates, had never visited an African country, although their home countries have close cultural and business ties with Africa. After a long conversation exploring ideas, we settled on Tanzania.

Like a parent, I wondered how they would navigate a new country and unfamiliar language. Careful planning helped turn those concerns into a supported opportunity to learn. In June 2026, they travelled to the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR)–Mbeya Medical Research Centre and Mbeya Zonal Hospital in Southwest Tanzania. There, they spent six weeks learning, developing their leadership skills and building connections. When I received a video sharing their experiences, I was overjoyed. It reminded me of what academia can achieve: helping scholars realise their full potential.

My heartfelt thanks go to Dr Bariki Mtafya, University of St Andrews alumnus and NIMR–Mbeya Medical Research Centre Manager, who hosted the scholars in collaboration with the Director of Mbeya Zonal Hospital and Dr. Nyanda Elias Ntinginya, NIMR Dir for Research Coordination and Promotion.

Ishani, Leen and Orla made us proud through the humility they brought to their internship. They listened, learned and formed collaborations with Tanzanian medical students. Their reflections speak for themselves:

Ishani: Most importantly I learned that leadership in global health isn't about arriving with a fixed idea of what you will contribute. Sometimes, it means listening first, adapting your plans and finding out where you can genuinely be useful.

Leen: This really changed the way I think about public health communication. Something can be medically accurate, but it still has to be useful and appropriate for the people receiving it.

Orla: It reminded me that effective global health work begins with listening and collaboration rather than assuming what would be useful.

Made possible by the generosity of Lord Irvine Laidlaw and what is now the Laidlaw Foundation, the original one-year research programme has grown into a two-year experience combining research, bespoke leadership training and leadership in action. More about Laidlaw scholarship programme - https://t.co/n5JYZSfC3D

@univofstandrews @StAndMedicine @Infection_StAnd @GlobalOfficeStA @SStaahr @StAndrewsBSRC @StAndrewsUni @ButeMedics @NIMR_Tanzania @NIMRMbeya @BarikiMtafya3 @winterzie @Jb_Atwech @RitahNakibon

#UniversityOfStAndrews #LaidlawScholars #GlobalHealth #Leadership #Tanzania #MedicalEducation

[Infection St Andrews @Infection_StAnd]

Delighted to see our first impact factor for Frontiers in Antibiotics. This is a credit to our authors, editors and journal staff for this achievement. Research to address antibiotic development and preventing resistance. @FrontiersIn @StAndMedicine @TBtrials_StAnd @BSACandJAC

[Infection St Andrews @Infection_StAnd]

Delighted that our paper exploring the simultaneous use of #tuberculosis 16S and pre-16S rRNA measurement in patients has been accepted in Frontiers in Antibiotics https://t.co/te3fMM63li. @SabiitiwWilber @vitalbacteria @StAndMedicine @UNITE4TB @TBtrials_StAnd @EDCTP

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Day 2 has started with yesterday’s recap of lessons learned by Dr Bariki Mtafya of @NIMR_Tanzania and alumnus of @Infection_StAnd @StAndMedicine @univofstandrews

[Infection St Andrews @Infection_StAnd]

TBMBLA is an important tool whose time is now. Well done all! @TBtrials_StAnd

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Very engaging TB-MBLA session hosted by LifeArc showcasing the utility of the test to diagnosis and monitoring response to TB treatment. May also be useful to determining when it is safe to discharge patients from TB isolation wards @Infection_StAnd @univofstandrews @lifearc1 @Lung_Institute @NIMRMbeya @OtoKibong @PanACEA_II

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Excellent Gate MRI PAN-TB results presented @TheUnion_TBLH #WCLH2025 TBMBLA performed excellently showing bacterial burden difference between patients with favourable and unfavourable outcomes. It also performed best in terms agreement with culture @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @lifearc1 @PanACEA_II @Lung_Institute @NIMRMbeya @univofstandrews @UNITE4TB

[Infection St Andrews @Infection_StAnd]

This grant seems Purrfeckt! Has to be funded!

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Fantastic Cat Albie watching over attentively as I submitted my EDCTP3 grant application. No time to pause.. He was so concerned I might miss the deadline. Thank goodness, we got it submitted despite the website crashing many times. @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @univofstandrews @Lung_Institute @UnivofGh @NIMRMbeya @NIMR_Tanzania @StAndrewsBSRC @WillySsengooba @brucekirenga @ICER_Global @BMudarshiru @winterzie @ucbukavu @UDSGhana @NMIMR_UG @derekjsloan @PANTHER_Health @abdses @EDCTP3

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Fantastic Cat Albie watching over attentively as I submitted my EDCTP3 grant application. No time to pause.. He was so concerned I might miss the deadline. Thank goodness, we got it submitted despite the website crashing many times. @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @univofstandrews @Lung_Institute @UnivofGh @NIMRMbeya @NIMR_Tanzania @StAndrewsBSRC @WillySsengooba @brucekirenga @ICER_Global @BMudarshiru @winterzie @ucbukavu @UDSGhana @NMIMR_UG @derekjsloan @PANTHER_Health @abdses @EDCTP3

[Infection St Andrews @Infection_StAnd]

Congratulations. I am delighted by your success.

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Very warm congratulations to three East Africans, Dr Winters Muttamba, Dr Hellen Onyango and Dr Ritah Nikiboneka who have been conferred Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in Medicine at University of St Andrews @Infection_StAnd @StAndMedicine @TBtrials_StAnd @univofstandrews @winterzie @Jb_Atwech @RitahNakibon @Lung_Institute @brucekirenga @ICER_Global @Makerere @DiscoverJKUAT

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Very rich and nutritious EDCTP conference dinner tonight. Great to meet counterparts and longtime friends in the health research field. A brilliant g thank you to the organisers. @EDCTP @EDCTP3 @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @Lung_Institute @ICER_Global @StAndMedicine

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

PanACEA has turned a chapter with successful end of phase 2 programme and start of phase 3 programme. Brilliant discussions held to inform the future research priorities. @PanACEA_II @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @Lung_Institute @EDCTP @EDCTP3 @NIMRMbeya @KCRITanzania @ucl @Radboud_Uni @univofstandrews

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Excellent talk from Dr Michael Makanga Director EDCTP to the PanACEA/SimpliciTB conference in Cape Town South Africa @EDCTP3 @EDCTP @PanACEA_II @Infection_StAnd @TBtrials_StAnd @univofstandrews @StAndMedicine @NIMRMbeya @KCRITanzania @Lung_Institute @MakerereCHS

[TB Trials @ Uni of St Andrews @TBtrials_StAnd]

Great to be in Cape Town for the final meeting of #SimpliciTB and #PanACEA @Infection_StAnd @univofstandrews @EDCTP @StAndMedicine @TBAlliance

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Very productive time with research partners in Dar es Salaam. Great to have made progress on TriAD deliverables and grant writing. @Infection_StAnd @NIMR_Tanzania @univofstandrews

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Very delighted to attend the excellent Professorial inaugural lecture on Decoding Genetics of Handedness and Dyslexia by my colleague Prof Silvia Paracchine @silParacchini @Infection_StAnd @StAndMedicine @univofstandrews @StAndrewsBSRC Great to learn that while the contents of our genomes are the same, the unique arrangement of these contents make us different individuals.

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Excellent progress for the MpoxVax-AFRIVAC study in advancing solutions for the Mpox epidemic in East and Central Africa @Infection_StAnd @StAndMedicine @univofstandrews @NIMR_Tanzania @Lung_Institute @UVRIug @ucbukavu @ucddublin @EDCTP3

[School of Medicine @StAndMedicine]

👏Well done to Dr Jaclyn Pearson, Lecturer at @Infection_StAnd, on her #Springboard25 award!
Her work examines how bacterial pathogens interact with the immune system in an effort to identify new therapeutic strategies for infectious diseases.

Read more: https://t.co/vUJKVQ11eU

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Excellent work by Ugandan researchers @ICER_Global and Uganda government @GovUganda in collaboration with WHO @who The first vaccine trial to start within 3 days of announcing the disease outbreak.

[Wilber Sabiiti @SabiitiwWilber]

Dr Wilber Sabiiti | Battling Tuberculosis whilst Maintaining the Respiratory Microbiome: https://t.co/JRzNlUEn6C - via:@scientia_social Thanks to professionals at Scientia Global who have simplified this piece of research and made it accessible to a wider non-specialist community. The need to strike a balance between maintaining a healthy microbiome vis-a-vis pathogen elimination during antibiotic therapy development and administration cannot be more emphasised @Infection_StAnd @StAndMedicine @univofstandrews @UStAResearch @PanACEA_II @EDCTP @EDCTP3 @NIMRMbeya @NIMR_Tanzania @KCRITanzania @Lung_Institute @UNITE4TB @MicrobioSoc @microbiome @EmmanuelMusisi2

[Hellen Onyango @Jb_Atwech]

Thrilled to have passed my PhD. viva yesterday. Huge thanks to my amazing supervisors for their guidance and support throughout this journey. @kkeenanstA @derekjsloan @MikeKesby, @ Rob. @StAndMedicine @StAndrewsSGSD @SabiitiwWilber @winterzie @RitahNakibon