Charles Narh

Dr. Charles Narh is a Research Fellow with the School of Medicine and IMPACT, Deakin University, having previously worked at Bio21 Institute and the University of Melbourne (PhD), WEHI and Burnet Institute (Postdoc). He has over 10 years of experience in infectious diseases research, with highly cited research publications in malaria, mycobacterial diseases, COVID-19 and Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). Dr. Narh focuses on interdisciplinary basic and translation research ranging from R&Ds of molecular diagnostics and genomic tools, and utilization of population genetic approaches for disease surveillance and to inform Public Health control efforts and outbreak preparedness of malaria drug resistance, mycobacterial infections and SARS-CoV-2 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). His research findings on the evolution of antimalarial resistance in Ghana, a malaria high-burden country in sub-Sahara Africa, has contributed to national policy changes in malaria drug resistance monitoring programs, and has been considerably translated across the West African subregion. He has three years of industry experience where he played lead roles in R&D teams at ZiP Diagnostics (a Biotech Start-up in Melbourne) that developed a novel CE-certified point-of-care COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 RNA) test kit. Dr. Narh and his team in Ghana have built clinical trial networks, where he works with colleagues at the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACBIP) and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana, to validate and implement diagnostic tools and control interventions for infectious diseases including COVID-19 and malaria. Dr. Narh is passionate about impacting the next generation of “1000-minds” through academic, industry and community engagements, and currently supervises honours and postgraduate students.