Irene’s background is in Bioscience, with a BSc. in Biochemistry from the University of Nairobi, Kenya and MSc. Infection and Immunity from the University of Leicester, UK. She did her Ph.D. in Malaria Immunology at Heidelberg University, Germany, after which she pursued a postdoc at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) on immune responses to a malaria vaccine and generation of monoclonal antibodies.
Irene has over 7 years of experience conducting malaria immunology projects at or in collaboration with KEMRI-Wellcome Trust research programme in Kilifi, Kenya, and has authored and co-authored multiple scientific articles. She is passionate about vaccine development especially for malaria which is a major cause of childhood mortality.