Fellow profile: Professor Hamtandi Magloire Natama

Professor Hamtandi Magloire Natama (Burkina Faso) earned a PhD in Biomedical Sciences in 2018 at the University of Antwerp in collaboration with the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (Belgium), studying genetic and immunological factors contributing to inter-individual variation in susceptibility to malaria in early childhood. After returning to his home institution, he was promoted to associate researcher in July 2019. Prof. Natama was initially funded by EDCTP through the EDCTP/AREF Preparatory Fellowship (2018), during which he was trained at ISGlobal (Spain) and studied maternal antibodies and malaria protection in early childhood.

He went to apply successfully for an EDCTP Career Development Fellowship in 2021 to investigate the role of host immune responses in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes carriage. Prof. Natama has also been involved in other EDCTP studies. He was the co-investigator and study site coordinator in the phase II trial of R21/Matrix-M, the second malaria vaccine that has received WHO prequalification for the prevention of malaria in children. All these successful research fundings, activities and outputs have significantly contributed to his promotion as Associate Research Professor in July 2023. Furthermore, based on his research and research leadership potential, he was selected by AREF to participate in the Towards Leadership Programme, a one-year training programme that has just ended in October 2023. With this, Prof. Natama is well-equipped to overcome the new challenges he will be facing as a promising malaria research leader.