Prof. Kirsty Le Doare, BA (Hons.), MBBS, PGHCE, MSc (Oxon), PhD FRCPCH is the Chief Investigator for the SGUL@MU-JHU maternal vaccines and seroepidemiology of Group B Streptococcus (GBS) studies. She is a Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology at St. George’s, University of London seconded to MRC/UVRI@LSHTM research unit, Uganda.

She is the chair of the DNDi/WHO maternal and neonatal health COVID-19 working group and is a WHO scientific advisor for maternal vaccination. She has over 10 years of experience investigating the interactions between hosts and pathogens during the neonatal period, particularly Group B Streptococcus (GBS).

Dr. Kirsty completed an economics degree at the London School of Economics and worked for NGOs for 10 years prior to changing track to medical research. Her MSc at Oxford, PhD and postdoctoral work at Imperial College continued her interest in understanding why some babies get very ill and die from GBS disease and how we can harness protection transferred from mother to her baby via the placenta and in breastmilk. Her groups in Uganda and the UK use a variety of approaches to study GBS and other neonatal pathogens such as E. coli and Klebsiella, ranging from clinical studies and whole genome sequencing, to in vitro and in vivo models.