Ph.D., Monash University,
M.S.P.H., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
B.Biomed.S., International Islamic University Malaysia
Khayriyyah (Kye) Mohd Hanafiah, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology. She teaches Microbes & Disease (BIOL107 Lab & Lecture), General Biology I (Lab & Lecture), and Introduction to Research (Lab & Lecture). She was previously a Senior Lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang (2015-2022).
Her research portfolio includes analyses of the global epidemiology of hepatitis A & C viruses, discovery and development of serodiagnostic biomarkers for tuberculosis, hepatitis E & C viruses, and measles, and discovery of novel antimicrobial compounds and strategies for tuberculosis and MRSA. Her current and emerging interests include antimicrobial discovery, understanding antimicrobial resistance, science communication and One Health. She has authored/co-authored more than 25 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is named on two US patents.
She has been a collaborator to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study and consultant for the World Health Organization. She has reviewed two global editions of microbiology textbooks for Pearson, and peer-reviewed research and review articles for several journals in the field of infectious disease (epidemiology, diagnostics and microbiology).
In addition to her interests in infectious disease, she is active in science communication after her success being crowned FameLab International Champion in 2018 at the Cheltenham Science Festival, U.K. Since then, she has produced, written, directed and narrated numerous short films and animation on various topics related to sustainability, partnering with organizations such as WWF-Malaysia. She is the lead author and editor for “Science Communication in Practice: A Malaysian Perspective with Global Relevance,” published by the Academy of Sciences of Malaysia. She has conducted numerous training workshops in science communication for students, STEM teachers, researchers and senior professors in Malaysia & Southeast Asia, where she has frequently provided commentary for print and television media, including her regular opinion column “Science, She Wrote.”
Since 2016, she has supervised and successfully graduated three postgraduate research students, over 15 undergraduate students in various topics related to medical microbiology/infectious disease. She is keen to work with motivated undergraduate Fisher students with broad interests related to the field of infectious disease microbiology/public health and science communication.