Dr Otabil Kenneth Bentum

Position

Senior Lecturer

School

Sciences

Department

Publications

Dr Kenneth Bentum Otabil, PhD is a Lecturer and Principal Investigator in Microbiology, Parasitology and Vector Biology at the Department of Basic and Applied Biology of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), Ghana. His research interest is in Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) and One Health. Dr Otabil is especially passionate about discovering therapeutic, diagnostic and vaccine targets for NTDs and EIDs. His current research seeks to discover novel chokepoint enzymes with potential as therapeutic, diagnostic and vaccine targets in Onchocerca volvulus parasites. He is also interested in co-infections of NTDs and EIDs (such as COVID-19) and the impact of comorbidities on disease transmission, natural history and clinical outcomes. Dr Otabil is the Lead Ghanaian Scientist for the International Citizen Project on Covid-19 (www.icpcovid.com), an international research consortium made up of leading Scientists from more than 20 Countries globally. He is also the Principal Investigator for two research projects on onchocerciasis in Ghana with generous grants from the African Research Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases (through the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases, COR-NTD with support from the USAID and UKaid) and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene/ National Institute of Health Research, UK. Dr Otabil is further passionate about training the next generation of Scientists to combat infectious diseases and has many undergraduate and some postgraduate students in training in his lab on various projects (www.otabilslab.wordpress.com). He has established strong collaborative research networks with leading Scientists from the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Global Health Institute at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, School of Public Health at the Imperial College London, UK etc. Dr Otabil also collaborates with the Ghana Health Service, as well as colleague Scientists from sister institutions with regards to research on infectious diseases. He further serves as a peer reviewer for some reputable biomedical journals including PLOS NTDs, BMC Infectious Diseases, PLOS ONE, eNeurological Sci (Elsevier), Journal of Parasitology Research, Geospatial Health etc.