Career
After completing her PhD,Mutapi's postdoctoral training was at the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp from 1997 to 1999. She went on to lectureships at St Hilda's College,Oxford and in the Department of Zoology,University of Oxford. [4] She has also worked in the Department of Microbiology at Birkbeck College and the Department of Clinical Veterinary Studies at the University of Glasgow. [7]
In 2002 Mutapi joined the University of Edinburgh on a Medical Research Council Training Fellowship. [5] As Reader in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh,Mutapi's research was in global health and tropical diseases,specialising particularly in the study of schistosomiasis/bilharzia,a disease caused by a parasitic worm which develops in snails. [7] Her work contributed to the prioritisation of bilharzia as a public health concern by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and pharmaceutical company Merck KgaA. [7]
In 2012 Mutapi was one of the founding members of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy. [8] She was elected a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2015 [8] and is a Fellow of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences. [9]
Mutapi is currently professor in global health infection and immunity,and she is co-director of the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh. [9] Mutapi is also Deputy Director of the NIHR Global Health Research Unit TIBA (Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa),which takes a holistic approach to implementing research into evidence-based policies in African countries,taking into account science,technological challenges,and socioeconomics. [10]
In 2018 Mutapi was awarded the University of Edinburgh's Chancellor’s Award for Impact in recognition of her work on the treatment for bilharzia. [11] The next year Mutapi was made a member of the advisory board for the UK Global Challenges Research Fund. [12]
In addition to her scientific work Mutapi is a painter,using funds from her work to support education in Zimbabwe. [3] [13]
