Christian Happi

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Christian Happi in 2021

Christian Happi is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Genomics in the Department of Biological Sciences and the Director of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases,[1] both at Redeemer’s University. He is known for leading the team of scientists that used genomic sequencing to identify a single point of infection from an animal reservoir to a human in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.[2] His research focus is on infectious diseases, including malaria, Lassa fever, Ebola virus disease, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2.

Early life and education[edit]

Professor Happi was born in Sangmélima, Cameroon, fourth of seven children.[3] He graduated from the University of Yaounde, Cameroon, in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry with honors.[4] He obtained his PhD from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 2000 and went on to Harvard University as a Postdoctoral Fellow from 2000 to 2003.[4] He subsequently worked at Harvard University as a Research Scientist from 2004 to 2007.[4] He became an adjunct Professor at Harvard University School of Public Health between 2007–2011.

Research and career[edit]

Happi has led several public health sequencing efforts in Africa. His team rapidly sequenced Nigeria’s first Ebola case, and up to 20 cases a day throughout the outbreak.[5][6] He sequenced Lassa fever strains in a 2018 outbreak, helping researchers to conclude that the Lassa fever outbreak was due to spread by rats, rather than a mutation which had made it easier to spread between people.[7][8] He also played significant roles in genomics efforts such as 1000 Genomes Project[9] and H3Africa.[10] More recently he has led efforts for SARS-CoV-2 in Nigeria.[11][12]

In 2020 he gave a TED talk called A virus detection network to stop the next pandemic.[13]

Awards and honors[edit]

His awards and honors include;[4]

  • 2020 Bailey K. Ashford Medal[14][15]
  • 2019 HUGO African Prize[16]
  • 2011 & 2012, ExxonMobil Malaria Leadership Fellow
  • 2011, Merle A. Sande Health Leadership Award
  • 2010, Scholarship to Second Annual Course on Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Global Health, University of Washington Seattle (USA)
  • 2010, Boroughs Wellcome and Bill & Melinda Gates Awards, Genome Epidemiology Meeting (GEM), Wellcome Trust Conference Centre, Hinxton (UK)
  • 2009 – 2014, Wellcome Trust Research Grant Award
  • 2009, European Union-Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) Senior Research Fellowship Award (The Hague, Netherlands)
  • 2008, Chair, Scientific Advisory Committee Africa Health Research Organization (AHRO) (Ghana)
  • 2007, Turner Biosciences Research Award (USA)
  • 2005 – 2008, Plasmodium falciparum Pathogenesis and Applied Genomics Research Award, World Bank/UNICEF/WHO/TDR
  • 2004, Chair, Molecular Parasitology session, 50th Annual Meeting and Anniversary of the ASTMH, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  • 2003 – 2005, Member of the International Scientific Committee of the 4th MIM Pan African conference on Malaria (Cameroon)
  • 1999, Best Postgraduate Student, PIMRAT, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 1998, Wellcome Trust Award to the 1st Gordon Conference on Malaria (Oxford, UK)
  • 1995, Best International Postgraduate Student, International Student association (ISA), University of Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 1994 – 1997, Organization of African Unity (OAU) Research and Training Scholarship
  • 1988 – 1993, Cameroon Government Scholarship

Personal life[edit]

He is married and has three children.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases". Archived from the original on 2015-08-01. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  2. ^ Gire, S. K.; Goba, A.; Andersen, K. G.; Sealfon, R. S. G.; Park, D. J.; Kanneh, L.; Jalloh, S.; Momoh, M.; Fullah, M.; Dudas, G.; Wohl, S.; Moses, L. M.; Yozwiak, N. L.; Winnicki, S.; Matranga, C. B.; Malboeuf, C. M.; Qu, J.; Gladden, A. D.; Schaffner, S. F.; Yang, X.; Jiang, P.-P.; Nekoui, M.; Colubri, A.; Coomber, M. R.; Fonnie, M.; Moigboi, A.; Gbakie, M.; Kamara, F. K.; Tucker, V.; Konuwa, E.; Saffa, S.; Sellu, J.; Jalloh, A. A.; Kovoma, A.; Koninga, J.; Mustapha, I.; Kargbo, K.; Foday, M.; Yillah, M.; Kanneh, F.; Robert, W.; Massally, J. L. B.; Chapman, S. B.; Bochicchio, J.; Murphy, C.; Nusbaum, C.; Young, S.; Birren, B. W.; Grant, D. S.; Scheiffelin, J. S.; Lander, E. S.; Happi, C.; Gevao, S. M.; Gnirke, A.; Rambaut, A.; Garry, R. F.; Khan, S. H.; Sabeti, P. C. (28 August 2014). "Genomic surveillance elucidates Ebola virus origin and transmission during the 2014 outbreak". Science. 345 (6202): 1369–1372. Bibcode:2014Sci...345.1369G. doi:10.1126/science.1259657. PMC 4431643. PMID 25214632.
  3. ^ a b Munshi, Neil (February 19, 2021). "Christian Happi: 'With pathogens, we need to play offence'". Financial Times.
  4. ^ a b c d "Christian Happi | Havard T.H. Chan School of Public Health". Archived from the original on 2015-01-23.
  5. ^ Guth, Jamie (23 September 2014). "TDR | Ebola virus genome sequencing data published". TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases).
  6. ^ Guth, Jamie (23 September 2014). "Support to Ebola in the field and laboratory". TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases).
  7. ^ Maxmen, Amy (2018-10-17). "Nigeria's largest Lassa fever outbreak sparked by rats". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-07024-6. S2CID 58396192.
  8. ^ Yong, Ed (February 28, 2018). "Why is Nigeria Experiencing a Record-High Outbreak of Lassa Fever?". The Atlantic.
  9. ^ Auton, Adam; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Altshuler, David M.; Durbin, Richard M.; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Bentley, David R.; Chakravarti, Aravinda; Clark, Andrew G.; Donnelly, Peter; Eichler, Evan E.; Flicek, Paul (30 September 2015). "A global reference for human genetic variation". Nature. 526 (7571): 68–74. Bibcode:2015Natur.526...68T. doi:10.1038/nature15393. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4750478. PMID 26432245.
  10. ^ Pennisi, Elizabeth (February 4, 2021). "Africans begin to take the reins of research into their own genomes". Science Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-02-04.
  11. ^ "Nigerian scientists have identified seven lineages of SARS-CoV-2". Archived from the original on 2020-09-07.
  12. ^ "The Impact of African scientists: How years of building scientific capacity in Africa have been a real game changer in the response to COVID-19". World Bank Blog. January 6, 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-01-07.
  13. ^ "Christian Happi | Speaker | TED". Archived from the original on 2020-05-11.
  14. ^ "PROFESSOR HAPPI BAGS 2020 BAILEY K.ASHFORD MEDAL IN TROPICAL MEDICINE". November 19, 2020. Archived from the original on 2022-02-17.
  15. ^ "ASTMH Bailey K. Ashford Medal". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
  16. ^ Kristian, Andersen (May 2, 2019). "Christian Happi wins 2019 HUGO African Prize". Archived from the original on 2019-06-18.
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