Antimicrobial Resistance in (AMR) Africa: Smoldering in the Shadows

Iruka Okeke has observed the medical tragedies in Africa up close and from an academic perch – a dual perspective that has made her, at 32, one of the leading young scientists to study the continent’s antibiotic resistance threat. Now assistant professor of biology at Haverford College, Okeke serves as APUA chapter advisor for sub-Saharan Africa. Trained initially as a pharmacist, Okeke now studies newly-isolated E. coli strains as potential reservoirs of resistance genes. The daughter of Nigerian émigrés, she was born in London and attended high school, college, and graduate school in her parent’s native country.