This endowed fellowship was established in 2015 through the generosity of Chris and Kate Mathews with the purpose of helping the BB doctoral program recruit and retain top notch students.

Abraham Kpirikai is this year’s recipient of the Christopher and Catherine Mathews Fellowship Award!

Abraham received his B.Sc. (honors) degree in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (magna cum laude) from the University of Ghana. During and after undergrad, he worked as a research assistant at the West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), where he contributed to malaria surveillance and its molecular epidemiology efforts. After rotating with Juan Vanegas, Dave Hendrix, and Nathan Mortimer, Abraham joined the Mortimer Lab, where his research focuses on host-parasite immunometabolism using the Drosophila-parasitoid wasp model.