February 2026
Dr Mehrnoosh Arrar is an assistant researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) at the Institute of Calculus at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). She was born in the United States, where she completed her education, which includes a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Florida and a PhD in chemistry from the University of California, San Diego.
She is currently working in Argentina, developing her line of research focused on molecular modelling of the NS3 helicase of dengue for the design of antivirals, which earned her the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award (Argentina, 2025).
Read more – Mehrnoosh Arrar
January 2026
Dr Doty Ojwach is a virologist and Senior Scientist whose work bridges HIV pathogenesis, maternal-foetal immunity, and viral evolution.
Doty earned her PhD in Virology from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s HIV Pathogenesis Programme, South Africa, where she investigated HIV replication dynamics and viral protein function. A former SANTHE fellow and two‑time SANTHE Trainee of the Year (2017, 2018), she was also selected as a Lindau Nobel Laureate Young Scientist in 2020.
At Stellenbosch University’s Reproductive Immunology Research Consortium in Africa unit in South Africa, Dr Ojwach, as a Senior Scientist, now focuses on understanding how maternal HIV and/or CMV co-infection shapes foetal immune development, beginning with immunological interactions in the placenta.
Read more – Doty Ojwach
