Dr. Beatrice Achan, Makerere University, Uganda
Dr. Beatrice Achan is a Senior Lecturer and the Director of the Clinical Mycology Laboratory at Makerere University, Uganda. With a background in dental surgery and medical mycology, her academic journey includes a PhD in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology from the University of Newcastle, UK. Dr. Achan’s research primarily focuses on HIV/AIDS-related cryptococcal meningitis, diagnostic methods for drug-resistant fungal diseases, and the epidemiology of invasive fungal diseases in Uganda. She has led numerous projects funded by NIH, EU, and the Uganda Government. Notably, she established the Makerere University Fungal Research Group to mentor over 30 students in fungal disease research. Dr. Achan’s work has resulted in significant publications, including studies on antifungal resistance and the diagnostic capacity for fungal diseases in Uganda.
Publication Profile
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Education and Training 🎓
Dr. Beatrice Achan has a distinguished academic journey, beginning with her B.D.S. from Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in 2006, where she specialized in Dental Surgery. She then completed her M. Med. in Microbiology at Makerere University in 2011. Furthering her expertise, Dr. Achan pursued a fellowship in Medical Mycology at the University of Minnesota in 2011. She earned her M. Res. in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology from the University of Aberdeen in 2014. She concluded her academic path with a Ph.D. in Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology from the University of Newcastle in 2018. 🦷📚
Honors and Awards 🏆
Dr. Beatrice Achan has received numerous prestigious awards throughout her career. She was honored with the Uganda National Primary Leaving Examinations Best Pupil Award from 1995 to 1998. From 2001 to 2006, she was granted the Uganda Government’s merit scholarship for her Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree at Makerere University. Dr. Achan also received the German Government’s DAAD In-country postgraduate scholarship for her Master of Medicine in Microbiology from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, she was awarded a fellowship for the University of Minnesota Cryptococcal Optimal ART Timing clinical trial. She was a US Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections International Scholar Awardee in 2012, and in 2019, she earned the ‘Most Promising Science Poster’ prize at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference in Edinburgh, UK. 🎓🌍🩺
Research Focus
Dr. Beatrice Achan’s research focuses primarily on medical mycology and fungal immunology, with significant contributions to the study of fungal infections, particularly in immunocompromised individuals. Her work includes investigating oxidative stress responses in pathogens like Candida albicans 🦠 and Cryptococcus neoformans 🌍. Dr. Achan has also explored antifungal drug resistance, especially in Uganda, and the burden of fungal diseases in African populations 🌱. Her research covers urinary tract infections, pulmonary fungal infections, and mycobacterium tuberculosis diagnosis 🧪. With a focus on clinical microbiology, she continues advancing our understanding of fungal pathogenesis and diagnostics. 🩺🌍
Publication Top Notes
- “Oxidative Stress Responses in the Human Fungal Pathogen, Candida albicans” – 269 citations, 2015 🦠
- “Increased antifungal drug resistance in clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans in Uganda” – 207 citations, 2015 🌍
- “Factors associated with community-acquired urinary tract infections among adults attending assessment centre, Mulago Hospital Uganda” – 96 citations, 2016 💉
- “Cryptococcal disease and the burden of other fungal diseases in Uganda; Where are the knowledge gaps and how can we fill them?” – 53 citations, 2015 🧪
- “Status of pulmonary fungal pathogens among individuals with clinical features of pulmonary tuberculosis at Mbarara University Teaching Hospital” – 18 citations, 2021 🫁
- “A single-nucleotide-polymorphism real-time PCR assay for genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in peri-urban Kampala” – 8 citations, 2015 🔬
- “Estimated burden of fungal disease in Uganda” – 7 citations, 2007 🌍
- “Laboratory diagnosis of candidiasis” – 6 citations, 2022 🦠
- “A systematic review reveals that African children of 15–17 years demonstrate low hepatitis B vaccine seroprotection rates” – 5 citations, 2023 💉
- “Community-acquired soft-tissue pyogenic abscesses in Mulago hospital, Kampala” – 5 citations, 2012 🏥
- “Effect of mixed Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection on rapid molecular diagnostics among patients starting MDR-TB treatment in Uganda” – 4 citations, 2024 🔬
- “Distribution and antifungal susceptibility profile of oropharyngeal Candida species isolated from people living with HIV” – 3 citations, 2024 🦠
- “Microbial characteristics of dental caries in HIV-positive individuals” – 3 citations, 2022 🦷
- “The simple direct slide method is comparable to indirect Lowenstein Jensen proportion culture for detecting rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis” – 3 citations, 2021 🧪
- “Investigating metabolic and molecular ecological evolution of opportunistic pulmonary fungal coinfections: protocol for a laboratory-based cross-sectional study” – 2 citations, 2023 🔬