Professor Sunetra Gupta
professor of theoretical epidemiology, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford; award-winning novelist

Sunetra is professor of theoretical epidemiology at the University of Oxford with an interest in infectious disease agents that are responsible for malaria, HIV, influenza and bacterial meningitis. She has been awarded the Scientific Medal by the Zoological Society of London and the Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific research.

Sunetra has consolidated a body of theoretical work on the evolution of pathogen population structure which establishes a novel pipeline for developing a universal influenza vaccine; the technology has been licensed by US start-up Blue Water Vaccines, following a successful preclinical study. This work presents a rare example of where a mathematical model of the evolutionary dynamics of an infectious disease has led to the experimental identification of a novel vaccine target. In tandem with her studies of pathogen diversity, Gupta has made fundamental contributions to the evolution of diversity in host genes that protect against infectious disease.

Sunetra Gupta is also a novelist and translator. Her novels have been awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Southern Arts Literature Prize, shortlisted for the Crossword Award, and longlisted for the Orange Prize and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

Follow Sunetra on X/Twitter: @SunetraGupta

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