Kerrigan McCarthy

Dr. Kerrigan McCarthy serves as a Lecturer in Virology within the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of the Witwatersrand's Faculty of Health Sciences. With qualifications including MB BCh, DTM&H (Witwatersrand), and FC Path(SA)Micro, she maintains an active research profile in infectious disease epidemiology and public health surveillance.

Her research focuses on viral and bacterial disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, and pandemic response systems. Key areas include SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics, vaccine safety monitoring, and infectious disease epidemiology in resource-limited settings. Her work frequently addresses public health challenges in South Africa and across the African continent, with emphasis on vulnerable populations and health system strengthening.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a strong emphasis on real-time surveillance systems, particularly for vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging pathogens. Her work bridges laboratory diagnostics with population-level epidemiology, often incorporating genomic analysis to understand transmission patterns. The publications demonstrate consistent focus on practical public health applications and policy-relevant findings.

Dr. McCarthy actively contributes to understanding infectious disease dynamics in HIV-endemic settings, with numerous publications examining interactions between viral pathogens and immunocompromised populations. Her research methodology frequently combines traditional epidemiology with molecular techniques to provide comprehensive outbreak analyses.