K-SRIC’s scientist awarded a prestigious One Health fellowship

Dr George Oluoch has secured a prestigious One Health fellowship. The highly competitive fellowships are awarded by the Soulsby Foundation – a charity that supports veterinary and medical doctors, particularly those early in their career, working on One Health projects.

Dr Oluoch heads the Kenya Snakebite Research and Intervention Centre, and is also a Graduate fellow and PhD student with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s Scientific Research Partnership for Neglected Tropical Snakebite – Necrosis Therapy (SRPNTS-NT) project.

Dr Oluoch will study the potential of camel antibodies to develop a new community dispensable snakebite treatment. Snakebite is a neglected tropical disease that, every year, causes more than 100,000 human deaths and severe tissue damage maiming as many as 400,000 more victims. ‘I will engage affected communities, healthcare workers and policy makers in developing a safe and affordable way to treat the disabling health and socioeconomic effects of snakebite’ says Oluoch. This will have an impact across sub-Saharan Africa both in humans and in domestic animals.

Chair of the Soulsby Foundation trustees, Judy MacArthur Clark, said: ‘The pandemic has highlighted the intimate link between the health of animals, humans and our environment. Taking a One Health approach in which veterinary, medical, environmental and policy professionals work together enables us to find remarkable solutions which are equally relevant to the developed world as to the communities in which our Fellows work. These 2021 Soulsby Fellows truly are potential future leaders in One Health. They will enable us to better respond to future global problems, including pandemics.’