Dr. Shewit Kalayou is a Research Associate in vector-borne disease epidemiology and contributes to the Canadian Lyme Sentinel Network by ensuring robust surveillance methodologies, generating high-quality data, and developing a pilot sentinel surveillance framework for other climate-sensitive vector-borne zoonoses in Canada.
Education and Experience
Dr. Kalayou holds a DVM (Ethiopia), an MSc in Biotechnology from the National University of Ireland, and a PhD in Veterinary Medicine and Science from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Over the past decade, Dr. Kalayou has worked as a lecturer and research scientist at African and European institutions. Prior to joining the AEROH Lab, Dr. Kalayou worked at the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology in East Africa as an animal health scientist for six years, where he led projects that focused on developing locally adapted and sustainable tools for controlling disease vectors and improving health outcomes of animals, people and the environment in which they live. He has led field and laboratory-based studies on ticks, biting and tsetse flies-borne diseases, African trypanosomosis, and pathogen surveillance at the wildlife–livestock–human interface in East Africa.
Research Interests
Dr. Kalayou’s primary research interests include vector-borne disease surveillance, molecular epidemiology, emerging infectious diseases, disease ecology, translational research and capacity building. He applies interdisciplinary research methods, from molecular biology and computational systems biology to quantitative proteomics, to better understand infection mechanisms, identify links that can be targeted for control and for mitigating the impact of climate-sensitive diseases in Canada and farther afield.
Publications
For more information on Dr. Kalayou, including a full listing of publications, please see the links below.