Augustina Angelina Sylverken

Faculty Biography

Augustina Angelina Sylverken (PhD) is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, KNUST-Ghana. She holds a PhD in Clinical Microbiology from the Department of Clinical Microbiology, KNUST-Kumasi. She also holds MPhil and BSc degrees in Clinical Microbiology and Biological Sciences respectively from KNUST.Augustina did her Post-doctoral research studies at the Institute of Virology, University of Bonn Medical Centre, Germany and the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research into Tropical Medicine (KCCR). During this time, she focused on using state-of-the-art methodologies to study the transmission interface of coronaviruses and other emerging and reemerging viruses of zoonotic origin within the context of the One Health Concept.Dr. Sylverken’s ongoing projects are focused in the areas of One Health which involves studies on wildlife, livestock and human interactions as a proxy to viral zoonosis. She has expanded her research to include Tuberculosis and led the first Tuberculosis drug resistance survey for Ghana. She is involved in large scale multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies with teams of investigators with sponsorship from prestigious funders including the German Research Council (DFG), Global Fund, European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), African Research Excellence Fund, Medical Research Council (AREF-MRC) - UK, Royal Society – UK, the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) with the University of Surrey and the KNUST Research Fund (KReF).Augustina is an affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences, 2016-2020, a Fellow of the Prestigious African Research Excellence Fund’s (AREF) Excell Researcher and Leadership Development Programme and a member of the Ghana Young Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a strong advocate for women in Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics and a founding member of WiSTEM.Gh; a notable non-governmental organization interested in raising the next generation of women in STEM careers. She is also a member of The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing world (OWSD).  She has published widely and has more than 80 publications in reputable journals to her credit.