Dr. John Essandoh

John Essandoh is a population molecular geneticist and medical entomologist who is a full-time lecturer at the University of Cape Coast. He teaches a wide range of courses, including introductory cell biology and genetics, general biology, evolution, population genetics, phylogeny of vertebrates and invertebrates, and insect systematics. John holds a BSc in Biological Sciences with a double major in Conservation Biology and Entomology, an MSc in Biology and Control of Parasites and Disease Vectors from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and a PhD in Tropical Medicine from the University of Liverpool. John has been actively involved in senior high school outreach programmes to encourage students to pursue professions in STEM. John's interests lie in the genetic and ecological basis of insecticide resistance, primarily in the major malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, but also in Culex and Aedes vectors and a major nuisance biter. Resistance to the insecticides used in vector control represents a possible impediment to effective control strategies and an understanding of the genetic basis of this resistance would aid not only in the development of improved insecticide formulations, and hence more effective control measures, but also allow the development of genetic tests to rapidly measure the extent and spread of resistance.