Dr Ngu Abanda, Pasteur Network Talent Award 2023 

During the Opening Ceremony of the Pasteur Network Annual Meeting 2023 on November 19th in Tunis, Dr. Ngu Abanda, a scientist from the Centre Pasteur in Cameroon received the Pasteur Network Talent Award 2023 from Stewart Cole, President of the Pasteur Network Foundation and President of the Institut Pasteur. The Talent Awards support the career development of young scientists to become future leaders within the Pasteur Network.

Dr Ngu Abanda obtained his Ph.D. in Tropical Medicine from the University of Hawaii in 2017. During his Ph.D. studies, he conducted research on factors contributing to poor treatment outcomes among Tuberculosis patients, especially children. He also evaluated the accuracy of new rapid molecular-based assays for the diagnosis of drug-resistant Tuberculosis.  

Later on, Dr Ngu Abanda, to broaden his knowledge on the clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases, took up the position of microbiologist at the Public Health Laboratory of the Texas Department of State Health Services (USA). He contributed to set up a new molecular assay to detect Candida auris, an emerging fungal pathogen that is associated with nosocomial infections and considered a serious global health threat. During this postdoctoral period, he acquired solid experience in clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases. He joined the Pasteur Center in Cameroon (CPC) in 2020, first as a temporary laboratory scientist with primary activity to lead a team working 24 hours/7 days on COVID-19 diagnosis.   

“Dr Ngu Abanda made a significant contribution to CPC’s COVID-19 diagnostic activities and became a research scientist at CPC with primary mission to develop arbovirus research activities. He now leads the WHO yellow fever regional reference laboratory (RRL) and the arbovirology laboratory at CPC” explained Mirdad Kazanji, Director of the Centre Pasteur in Cameroun.   

His current research activities focus on the long-term immunity of the yellow fever vaccine, and the epidemiological and entomological surveillance of arboviruses.   

”Providing affordable and quality assured diagnosis to inform vector-borne diseases control and prevention programs is the central tenet of our activities.” Dr Ngu Abanda  

His long-term goal is to develop a comprehensive and multidisciplinary research and training program on arboviruses thanks to its daily investment alongside the CPC teams.  

“Eleven brilliant young scientists of the Pasteur Network have already received this prize and are still contributing in an excellent way to the scientific excellence of the Pasteur Network. Today, we are honored to reward the quality of the first achievements made by Dr Ngu Abanda and to support his career and its further ambitious developments” underlined Stewart Cole, President of the Pasteur Network Foundation and President of the Institut Pasteur.