Rahma Golicha is a PhD Fellow with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and University of Oxford, supported by Vaccine to Control respiratory Pathogens and AMR across Africa, VacAMR Project (https://www.vacamr.org/). Her doctoral research explores the intersection of AMR and the respiratory microbiome under the supervision of Professor Katherine Gallagher. she employs microbiology, metagenomics, and bioinformatics to investigate key questions in bacterial genomics and public health

Before embarking on her PhD, Rahma played a key role at KEMRI in Kenya’s national Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme through the Fleming Fund, collaborating with Level 5 referral hospitals to address WHO priority pathogens and combat AMR. At KEMRI, Centre for Microbiology research Centre, she was involved in research on enteric pathogens including Non-typhoidal Salmonella, Salmonella spp, Campylobacter spp, Vibrio cholerae, Aeromonas spp, Rotavirus, and Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli,contributing to efforts in pathogen genomics and surveillance.

Rahma holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Genomics from the University of Cambridge. Her research interests lie in bioinformatics, genomics, microbiology, and infectious diseases, with a particular passion for bacterial evolution,  role of mobile genetic elements, and the dynamics of resistance and virulence in human-associated microbiomes.

 Publications:

1. Aeromonas: Genomic Insights into an Environmental Pathogen and Reservoir of Antimicrobial Resistance
2. Long-Term Impact of Rotavirus Vaccination on All-Cause and Rotavirus-Specific Gastroenteritis and Strain Distribution in Central Kenya:   an 11-Year Interrupted Time-Series Analysis