The Doctor - Emily Wong

Video: See how digital health and next generation population science are working together to address HIV/TB and diabetes in Somkhele, KZN through Vukuzazi.

Dr Emily Wong: Investigator, Africa Health Research Institute; Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases University of Alabama. Connect: Twitter @emilybethwong

Her Research: Emily’s research on TB and HIV ranges in scale from the microscopic to studies across an entire population. Emily is a principal investigator of Vukuzazi, a study that has enrolled more than 10,000 patients in rural KwaZulu-Natal. Through participating in this study, the community benefits from health screening while contributing to a better understanding of how HIV, TB and diabetes interact in people and in a population. Her research on the immune cells that line the lungs will help us better understand how TB infects people and how we can boost lung defenses to fight it.

As a physician-scientist, her research often has a patient-centered approach. In collaboration with pulmonologist colleagues, she has established a study that collects cells from inside a person’s lungs. The cells can then be individually sorted (using lasers!) by flow cytometry machines and studied to see how they function and what proteins and genes they express. Emily’s team uses this information to try to figure out new ways to boost lung immunity.

Her Superpowers: determination, fusing ideas from different fields, excitement to learn new skills, using lasers, radiation and gene sequencing to see patterns inside lungs and cells

Connect: Twitter @emilybethwong