PhD Candidate

Lawrence Kapansa is a Laboratory Scientific Officer at the Zambia National Public Health Reference Laboratory, Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI), with research interests in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), genomic epidemiology, environmental microbiology, and One Health surveillance. His research focuses on the application of next-generation sequencing, metagenomics, transcriptomics, bioinformatics, and wastewater-based epidemiology to understand the emergence, transmission, and spread of antimicrobial resistance in healthcare settings. His proposed PhD research investigates the predictive utility of hospital wastewater microbiomes, resistomes, mobilomes, and functional gene expression for monitoring clinical disease burden and antimicrobial resistance in Zambia.

Through integrating environmental genomics, clinical microbiology, spatial epidemiology, and machine learning, his work aims to develop innovative surveillance approaches that strengthen infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship, and public health decision-making in resource-limited settings. He is particularly interested in translating genomic research into practical tools that support national and regional One Health surveillance systems and evidence-based health policy.